


The Art of Distraction

by four_sweatervests



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Not really though, Slow Build, here's a ship no one asked for, kind of canon timeline, takes place around episode 7 or 8, whoops
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-03
Updated: 2014-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-15 23:47:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2247933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/four_sweatervests/pseuds/four_sweatervests
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sousuke doesn't have time for a boyfriend.  Which is why the cute blond swimmer from that team he hates who he can't get out of his head... is starting to become a problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Someday I'll write fic that people actually want to read, but w/e

Rin is gone, again.

It’s the fourth night in a row that Sousuke’s come back from the weight room to an empty dorm, and he’s starting to feel like he should say something.  Well, he has said something, he tells Rin constantly that he should be focusing on himself instead of training some lost-cause second-year from a rival team who can barely even swim, when he’s not sneaking out to meet up with his boyfriend from that same rival team, but apparently Sousuke’s advice hasn’t sunk in because it’s nearly lights-out and Rin’s still gone.  This shit is getting ridiculous.

Sousuke battles with himself for a moment, then hastily puts his favorite hoodie on over his sweaty tank top and heads outside toward the pool.  If Rin’s out with Tachibana, chances are he won’t be back until morning classes (he _will_ get caught one of these days, Sousuke’s sure of it, everyone’s luck runs out eventually), but if he’s at the pool, Sousuke can be a good best friend and remind him to get his ass to bed.

When he gets to the pool, he checks the window first, and as he thought, Rin’s there, coaching that second-year from Iwatobi.  Sousuke hangs back for a moment, watching the kid’s atrocious front crawl, and shakes his head, smiling to himself.  “What a fucking waste of time.”

“You think so?” says a voice coming from his left, and Sousuke jumps about a foot in the air.

“What the hell?”  When he looks over, he’s irritated to see that he was scared by the little blond-- and least intimidating-- member of the Iwatobi swim club.  He gets even more irritated when the kid starts laughing.

“Jumpy, Sou-chan?” he asks, smiling.

Sousuke narrows his eyes.  “Don’t call me that,” he growls, trying to regain his composure.  “And no, I just didn’t think anyone else would be out here this late.”

“Right, right,” the kid says.  “So what are you doing out here if you’re scared of the dark?”

“I’m not--” Sousuke starts, then lets out a huff.  “What are you doing here at all?  This is a private campus, you know.  Someone ought to send a memo to your little club to remind you all.”

The little blond takes a few steps closer to Sousuke.  “Don’t be like that Sou-chan,” he says, pouting slightly.  “We’re all friends.”

Sousuke sighs and steals a glance toward the pool and Rin again.  “If you say so.  What’s your name again?  Hazama?”

“Hazuki Nagisa,” he says proudly.

“Right, Hazuki,” Sousuke repeats, and now that he hears it, the name does sound familiar.  “So why are you creeping around outside the pool at night while they’re in there?” he asks, pointing at the boys in the pool.  “You just have nothing better to do on a Thursday night?”

Hazuki shifts to stand on his tip-toes and peers through the window, smiling fondly at Rin and his friend.  “You can call me Nagisa, you know.”

Sousuke rolls his eyes, and Hazuki catches him.

“I mean it,” he says earnestly.  “Rin-chan’s your best friend-- he’s mine too!  One of them anyway, and that means we’re friends too, okay?”

Sousuke looks down at the sincere and determined expression on Hazuki’s face and can’t help softening a bit.  The kid’s short stature and eagerness remind him a bit of Nitori, but instead of being skittish and proper, he’s confident and brash.  Sousuke wonders why he never really noticed him before; maybe he’s not that strong a swimmer.

“Sure,” Sousuke says finally, the corners of his mouth turning slightly upward.  He’s turning into such a softie.  

“Great!” Nagisa says, beaming, and links arms with Sousuke so fast he’s almost knocked off balance.  “So why are you out here Sou-chan?  Do you get sentimental watching Rin-chan being such an amazing teacher to Rei-chan?” he asks conspiratorially.

“Uh.  No, I was coming to get him before lights-out,” Sousuke says.  “A good thing too, since it looks like neither of them are watching the clock.”

“Wait!” Nagisa cries as Sousuke wriggles his arm back and starts in the direction of the door.  “Don’t go in yet.”

Sousuke looks down at him in confusion, and sees a faint blush on Nagisa’s cheeks.  “It’s just--” he says, more calmly this time.  “These practices are really important to Rei-chan.”

“Is that why you’re out here instead of in there?” Sousuke asks.  “Your boyfriend thought you’d be too distracting?”

If Sousuke hadn’t already been watching Nagisa’s face, he would have missed it, the way his eyes turn to the ground and his shoulders slump and his chest sort of deflates a bit.  But the next moment, he’s smiling up at Sousuke again like nothing’s wrong.  “Yeah, I guess!” he says cheerfully.  “Rei-chan says I’m too loud for most enclosed spaces. Or maybe he said ‘too obnoxious.’”  He puts his finger to his lips, looking deep in thought.  

“Maybe both,” Sousuke offers.

“Sou-chan!” Nagisa gasps, affronted, but his eyes are sparkling with amusement.  “So mean!  Rei-chan is allowed to call me loud and obnoxious, not you!”

Sousuke lets out a low chuckle.  “But I thought we were best friends now.”

Nagisa’s jaw drops, and he laughs, linking arms with Sousuke again.  “You want people to think you’re the mature, cool type, but you’re actually pretty funny, huh?  Like how Rin-chan wants to seem cool but he’s actually a total sap and cries every day.”

This time Sousuke laughs for real, loud and from his belly, like he hasn’t done in a long time.  When he catches his breath, he says, “Oh man, I like you.”

Nagisa just shrugs.  “Yeah, I’m pretty great.  And don’t think I’m gonna forget what you said about us being best friends.”

Sousuke laughs again, and Nagisa smiles at him, his eyes sparkling again, and Sousuke thinks he wouldn’t actually mind being friends with this kid-- he’s certainly better company than any of Rin’s other Iwatobi friends.  Nanase’s basically insufferable, Tachibana’s so nice it makes Sousuke want to vomit sometimes, and the glasses-kid-- Rei-- seems like kind of a pompous idiot.  But Nagisa’s all right.  And the fact that he’s blond and has big, pretty eyes and is significantly cuter than the rest of them doesn’t hurt either.  Not that Sousuke’s paying attention to that.

He’s about to respond when he hears the door open and shut, and they both turn to see Rin and Rei approaching, their hair dripping into towels wrapped around their shoulders.  When Rin spots Sousuke, he gives him a slightly embarrassed look and a nod, like he’s already expecting the disapproving comments Sousuke hasn’t had a chance to make yet.  Sousuke shrugs at him, and Rin scratches the back of his head.

Rei, however, stops in his tracks when he spots them, and the smile drops from his face.  “N-Nagisa-kun?” he says, sounding surprised.  “What are you doing here?”

Sousuke, who was preoccupied by his silent conversation with Rin, looks down at Nagisa, still beside him , their arms still linked, now looking sort of like a deer in headlights.  “Ah, Rei-chan!” he says, quickly managing a smile.  “Still practicing with Rin-chan?  I didn’t realize you’d be here so late!  Sou-chan was just walking me out, right Sou-chan?”  

Sousuke feels a sharp elbow digging into his ribs, and when he looks down, Nagisa has locked eyes with him meaningfully.  “Uh.  Yeah.”

“Huh?” Rin says, sounding confused.  “What do you mean?  What were you two doing together?”

Nagisa’s eyes go wide for a moment and Sousuke just raises one eyebrow.  “We were… studying!” Nagisa says.  “Sou-chan needed some help with, uh… History!  So I was tutoring him!”  

Sousuke gives Nagisa a withering look, because, really?  That’s the best lie he could come up with off the top of his head?  It doesn’t even sound slightly believable, and Sousuke’s not sure why Nagisa even needs an excuse anyway.  Didn’t he come here with Rei?  

Rin and Rei seem pretty skeptical about Nagisa’s story as well.

“You… were tutoring Yamazaki-san?” Rei repeats slowly, full of disbelief.

“Uh, what?” Rin asks, looking from Nagisa back to Sousuke.  “I didn’t know you guys even talked.  And I thought you had to study for a math test and hit the gym, that’s what you said earlier.”

Nagisa laughs nervously and scratches at the back of his head with his free hand, grip tightening on Sousuke’s arm with the other.  “Um, well, you see--”

Sousuke makes a split-second decision, and nudges Nagisa gently with his elbow.  “Come on, Nagisa,” Sousuke says, rolling his eyes.  “Tell the truth.”

Nagisa turns his head swiftly toward Sousuke, his mouth slightly open, looking utterly betrayed.

Sousuke looks back at Rin, straight-faced.  “He needed help with Math, and then after we finished we worked on History, which, actually, he’s not terrible at.”  He glances back down at Nagisa.  “Just because you can remember a few more useless facts than I can doesn’t mean you were ‘tutoring’ me, you brat.”

For a split second, Nagisa’s eyes fill with wonder as he realizes that Sousuke is actually helping him out.  Sousuke’s sort of wondering himself why he did it; he just knows he couldn’t let the poor kid flounder like that, it was painful to watch.  “Heh,” Nagisa lets out a relieved-sounding laugh, “yeah, I guess if you wanna put it like that, Sou-chan.”

Rei’s still frowning, but seems to accept this answer better than the first.  “Well, I was going to catch the bus back home if you’d like to walk together, Nagisa-kun?”

Nagisa nods and finally allows Sousuke to extricate his arm from the vice-grip it’s been in for far too long, and mouths a silent “thank you” as Rei says goodbye to Rin.  Sousuke nods back, frowning.

Rin’s quiet during most of the walk back to their room, and Sousuke keeps stealing little side-glances at him, trying to read his expression.  “You’re gonna have to sleep in til 6:30 if you want a full eight hours, you know,” Sousuke says.

Rin smirks at him.  “Aw, worried about me Sou-chan?”

Sousuke bumps into Rin’s side.  “Shut up.”

“No, _Sou-chan_ , really, I had no idea you were so bad at History that you’d need tutoring from a second-year,” he says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Sousuke just sighs as he opens their door and tosses his sweatshirt on the desk.  He climbs up to the top bunk and settles in while Rin shucks off his clothes and puts on pajamas.  “Seriously though,” Rin says, leaning on the metal bars, his expression a little less smug than before, “what was that about?  You and Nagisa...  That studying line was obviously bullshit, so what was really going on?”

“Nothing,” Sousuke says, resting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

“Tch,” Rin scoffs.  “Whatever, fine, don’t tell me.  But, just… Look, don’t be casually fucking around with my friends okay?  None of them are the type, especially Nagisa, and I don’t want things getting awkward.”

Sousuke turns to look at Rin, surprised.  “What type is that?”

“You _know_ what I mean,” Rin says pointedly, and it pisses Sousuke off.

“Right, yeah, of course,” Sousuke says, narrowing his eyes.  “Don’t worry, I was trying to help the kid out, not _casually_ get into his pants right in front of his boyfriend, even though I’m totally ‘the type.’  I wouldn’t dare soil one of your precious Iwatobi boys, they’re safe from me and my _casual_ ways.”

“Oh my god, first of all, don’t be such a drama queen,” Rin says, poking Sousuke in the ribs.  “Second, don’t pretend I have no basis for saying something like that when you casually slept with Minami like your third day here and made shit weird for two weeks, and Uozumi still kind of wants to murder you over it.”

They stare at each other for a very long, drawn-out minute during which Sousuke tries to stay angry, but eventually he breaks and ends up smiling up at the ceiling.  “Worth it.”

Rin laughs.  “See?  And third, Rei’s _not_ Nagisa’s boyfriend, but that doesn’t mean he’s fair game, okay?  I know he’s cute and acts all flirty and inappropriate, but he gets attached really easily, especially to tall dark nerds who take themselves too seriously, so just… tread lightly, okay?”

When Sousuke doesn’t respond, Rin pokes him again.  “I’m not being a dick, I’m just trying to watch out for everyone, okay?   _Sou-chan_?”

Sousuke laughs in spite of himself.  “Okay, fine, just promise never to call me that again.”

“Oh it’s not cute when I do it?” Rin says, grinning.

“Nothing you do is cute,” Sousuke groans, and pushes Rin away from the bed.  “Now go to bed, or text your boyfriend for an hour, just leave me alone.”

Rin laughs, but Sousuke does notice him grab his phone before switching off the light and getting into bed.  He rolls his eyes at his sappy best friend, glad once again to be able to just go to sleep when he wants instead of having to send obligatory “goodnight” and “I miss you” messages to some needy boyfriend.  Sure, Tachibana’s ridiculously hot, but he can’t help thinking (for the hundredth time) that Rin would be better off focusing on himself and his own goals.  Boyfriends are a distraction they don’t need and can’t afford, which is why, not for the first time, Sousuke’s glad he’s single.  He falls asleep in peace, without sparing a single thought to cute blond boys with big eyes and smooth-looking, probably nice-smelling skin, who are also (unexpectedly) single.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, episode 10 kind of screwed my plot, but it's fine, I'll just call this a very subtle AU now. This chapter utilizes my knowledge of shoulder injuries and getting roofied.

There are three physical therapists who specialize in sports medicine in Iwatobi, and now Sousuke has been to see all of them.  

During the first appointment he made, he knew right away that he wouldn’t be returning.  The therapist basically told him that he could try all the massages and ultrasound therapy and electrical stimulation and stretching and strengthening exercises in the world but his shoulder wouldn’t heal without surgery.  The second therapist, Sousuke saw for several weeks before getting the same lecture.  Surgery is the only thing that will repair the tendons, everything else is just masking the pain, only helping on a surface level.  Deep down, the problem still remains.

The doctors in Tokyo had said the same thing.

Sousuke went to the third therapist, the last option, expecting to hear the same line, but was surprised when they offered a whole array of holistic treatments he hadn’t even heard of before.  He’s not usually one to go for the whole new-age, smoking tree bark or whatever, type of medicine, but at this point, he’s willing to try anything.  

It’s not like he’s never planning to have the surgery; he is.  He knows he can’t go on forever like this, but he can take the pain for a few more months.  He _needs_ the next few months, and if he gets the surgery now, he’ll spend them on painkillers with his arm in a sling, doing PT just to be able to lift his arm over his head.  Swimming will be out of the question.

So after his appointment, when he stops at his favorite little hole-in-the-wall bar by the train station (it’s a little sleazy, but they’ll actually serve him.  He never had a problem getting drinks in Tokyo, but here it’s been a little more strict.  He doesn’t drink often, and when he does, he never gets _drunk_ , it’s just a little easier to pick up on older guys with a little bit of liquid courage), he’s got a backpack full of herbal teas and medicated creams and mudpacks, instructions for new stretches to try, and he’s in a good mood.

The bartender, a plain-looking, cheerful brunette in her early twenties, nods at him when he walks in and immediately pours his favorite beer from the tap.  She always remembers his drink; he feels bad he can never remember her name.  “Yamazaki-kun,” she chirps, smiling at him.  “I thought you only came in on Wednesdays.”

“Tuesdays and Fridays now,” he says, pulling up a stool at the bar and taking a sip of his drink. The music is louder than usual and there’s hardly a free seat in the place, most of the other patrons standing up around him, laughing and chatting with each other.  “It’s busy here on weekends, huh?”

“Yeah!” the bartender says, pouring some fruity looking drinks from a shaker into martini glasses for some men in suits at the other end of the bar.  “Fridays and Saturdays are crazy!  Usually I have someone else helping with drinks, but we’re a little short-handed tonight.”

“Ah, I’ll leave you to it then,” Sousuke says with a polite nod, leaving the money for his drink on the bar and turning on his seat to face the crowd of people.  There are an awful lot of business men in polyester suits.  They must have gotten off work for the week and need to unwind with a few cheap drinks before going home, but they’re not upper-level enough to go to one of the classier bars downtown.  None of them look particularly interesting to Sousuke.

There’s a cluster of what might be attractive college-looking boys standing around a table in the corner, laughing loudly.  Sousuke hangs back and watches them for a few moments (he’s not very good at initiating conversation with strangers; usually he waits for someone to buy him a drink while he makes his best handsome-stoic-cool face), sipping his beer slowly, when he notices a familiar messy blond mop of hair amidst the crowd.  He slides off his stool to get a closer look, because there’s no way it could be who he thinks it is, when--

“Sou-chan?!  Is that you?”  Nagisa’s voice somehow carries across the room so loudly it makes Sousuke wince.  The group of young men around him all turn to look at him and he sees Nagisa’s face peering through them, so he makes his way over, feeling self-conscious.  

“It _is_ Sou-chan!” Nagisa exclaims.  “I knew it was you over there, just sitting by yourself all hulking and broody.”  His voice takes on a mocking tone at the end and Sousuke rolls his eyes.  

“What are you doing here?” Sousuke says loudly.  He leans over the table so that his low voice will actually be heard, and when he does, he takes in Nagisa’s appearance, which is quite different from the last time he saw him.  His hair is still messy, but tonight it’s… a calculated messy, like he actually put some effort and maybe some kind of hair product into it.  His eyes are lined with just a subtle amount of black eyeliner, just enough to make them stand out even more than they did before, and his cheeks are rosier than usual-- but Sousuke’s pretty sure that’s not from makeup.  “Are you drunk?” he asks.  “It’s not even nine o’clock.”

“No way!” Nagisa laughs, and the college boys join in.  “This is only my second drink,” he says, lifting up his drink to show Sousuke a mostly-full glass of… something bright red and bubbly, with what looks like about 14 maraschino cherries sitting at the bottom.  “But what are you doing here Sou-chan?” he asks, drawing out his words, and Sousuke can’t tell if its because he’s teasing him or he’s completely sloshed.  “Did Rin-chan and Mako-chan kick you out of your room for the night?”

“Something like that I guess,” Sousuke says distractedly.  He takes a closer look at some of the guys surrounding Nagisa: early to mid-twenties, none of them bad-looking but none particularly attractive either, it’s hard to tell if they came in together as a group or all convened around Nagisa because he sticks out like a sore thumb in this place, a shining blond beacon of everything they are not, but the one thing they have in common is they’re looking at him like he’s prey.  Sousuke doesn’t like it, and his over-protective instincts kick in.

“Hey, it’s a little crowded,” Sousuke says, then points to a table that some men in suits have just vacated.  “Let’s talk over there.”

Nagisa gives him a devilish smirk and looks from side to side at the faces of the guys surrounding him, all wearing equally irritated expressions at Sousuke’s request.  “Sorry boys,” Nagisa coos, pushing himself up a little unsteadily from the table, “Sou-chan wants to talk to me _alone_.”

“You said I could buy your next drink though,” one of them complains.

“And you said you’d dance with me once your favorite song came on,” another one says, staring daggers at Sousuke.

They’re not touching Nagisa or holding him back, but they’re blocking his way out of the little corner he’s in and Sousuke’s starting to get annoyed now.  He doesn’t want to start anything, but for some reason he can’t quite explain, he gets a creepy vibe from these guys and he just knows he doesn’t want them anywhere near Nagisa.

“How about you dance with each other instead?” Sousuke says calmly to the two who’d complained.  “You’d look cute together.  Come on Nagisa.”  

He pushes his way through them to clear a path for Nagisa to get through.  Nagisa’s grinning from ear to ear, like this is the funniest situation he’s ever found himself in, and makes his way through and settles himself against Sousuke’s side, one arm slung low around his back to steady himself.  Sousuke drops his arm around Nagisa’s shoulder, only to guide him away from the group and toward the table he’d pointed to earlier.  It’s been taken already, by an attractive guy in glasses, maybe late-twenties, who must have walked in while Sousuke was distracted.  Sousuke sighs, because he probably would have talked to the guy, maybe gone home with him, but now there’s a drunk (‘second drink’-- yeah right, Nagisa is definitely drunk) kid hanging on him and Sousuke feels oddly obligated to watch out for him.

They settle into a clear spot at the end of the bar and Sousuke guides Nagisa into leaning on the bar instead of him.  “Are you okay?  Did you actually know any of those guys?” Sousuke asks, keeping his voice even.

Nagisa smiles again.  “Not yet!  But they were _so_ nice, Sou-chan, they wanted to buy me drinks and they said I was pretty.”

Sousuke rolls his eyes.  “Yeah, I’m sure they did.  Look, are you here alone?  Where’s your Iwatobi crew?  Where’s your glasses-boyfriend?”

“Rei-chan, ugh!” Nagisa cries.  “Don’t talk about Rei-chan, I am not thinking about Rei-chan tonight, I promised!”

“Okay,” Sousuke says slowly.  “So you’re just here to get drunk and let creepy guys try to pick up on you?  I mean, I’m not judging, but you shouldn’t be doing that kind of thing without someone to watch out for you.”

“I told you already, I only had one drink before this one!” he says, raising his still mostly-full glass up to show Sousuke once again.  “And I have you watching out for me now, you’re like a big sour-faced angel, here to protect me.”

Sousuke wants to be annoyed, he really does.  And he honestly can’t tell if Nagisa’s being sincere or smarmy or if he’s just too drunk to have a filter (or maybe he never has one), but Sousuke finds himself thinking about how cute he looks even when he’s talking shit or, currently, trying to find his straw using only his mouth without looking down, and failing miserably.  When he finally manages to get the damn thing into his mouth, he takes a sip and smiles victoriously.  Sousuke just shakes his head.

“So how’d you manage to get in here anyway?” he asks.  “You look like you’re twelve.”

Nagisa smiles and sips more of his drink.  “Oh, Sou-chan,” he says sweetly, reaching up to cup Sousuke’s cheek, “don’t be jealous of my youthful beauty.  You’re not bad-looking!  Even with this whole--” he makes a vague circling gesture in front of Sousuke’s face, “--situation here.”

Sousuke’s eyebrows fly up and he’s kind of speechless for a moment because, wow, is this kid for real?  He surprises himself by laughing, and Nagisa smiles.  “Oh, well, see now that’s a different story altogether,” Nagisa says.  “You should try that more often.  It doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“What?” Sousuke asks, still in awe of the level of sass contained in the small body in front of him.

“Smiling,” Nagisa says, and Sousuke does smile, rather stupidly and completely involuntarily, while Nagisa stabs one of the cherries in his glass with his straw and pops it into his mouth.

“Nagisa!” a shrill voice yells from behind Sousuke, and he sees a guilty look flash on Nagisa’s face before turning around to see the bartender, wearing an expression so angry and so vastly different than the one she wore when Sousuke first walked in, it takes him a moment before he recognizes her.

“I thought you left without telling me!” she says.  “Where have you been for the last hour?  I completely lost track of you!”

Nagisa smiles sheepishly at her.  “I’m sorry!  I just got caught up--”

“I told you I’d let you hang out here tonight as long as you stopped moping and you stayed in my sight,” she scolds him.  “That was the deal.”

“I remember, but look, I’m not moping, see?” he argues, then points to his own face and smiles widely, showing all his teeth.  It’s not really a happy smile; if anything, it’s a bit frightening.  “And it’s not my fault if tall people stand all around me and block your view, it doesn’t mean I wandered off!  Look at Sou-chan, I bet people get lost in his shadow all the time.”

The bartender looks at Sousuke, only now noticing him standing next to Nagisa.  “Yamazaki-kun?” she says, a little warily.  “You two… know each other, or…?”

“Sou-chan and I swim together!” Nagisa exclaims before Sousuke has a chance to answer.  “Well, he goes to a different school, and he’s a third-year, and he’s kind of got this, mysterious-guy vibe going on, but besides that, we’re best friends!” he goes on excitedly, linking arms with Sousuke like he did the night they met outside the Samezuka pool.  This time, it’s his right arm that Nagisa grabs, and even though Sousuke’s wearing a brace under his shirt after physical therapy, he still winces a bit as Nagisa pulls down a little too hard.  He doesn’t seem to notice as he looks up at Sousuke with a questioning look.  “How do you know my least evil sister?”

Sousuke looks from Nagisa back to the bartender, who’s wearing the same expression.  “Hazuki... right,” he mutters to himself.  He knew that name sounded familiar when Nagisa first introduced himself.  The bartender’s told him two or three times now, but he’s not great with names and always forgets.  “I come in here sometimes,” he tells Nagisa.

Nagisa has his straw between his lips again and is sucking down the last of his drink, making a loud noise once it’s empty.  “What a small world!” he says, leaning his weight into Sousuke’s side.  “Isn’t it a small world, Sou-chan?” he asks, sounding a little sleepy.

“Sure,” Sousuke says, trying not to find Nagisa’s drunken excitement endearing.

Nagisa’s sister looks at him suspiciously.  “That’s still just your second drink, right?”

He doesn’t answer her directly, but looks up at Sousuke instead.  “Nee-chan said I can’t have more than two drinks, and she had to make them for me, that was the other part of our deal,” he explains in a mock-serious tone, pointing his finger in the air dramatically, “along with ‘no moping about Rei-chan’ and ‘stay where she can see me.’  I am supposed to have fun, but a structured fun, within the set parameters we discussed beforehand!”  He then doubles over in a fit of giggles, tugging painfully on Sousuke’s arm.

Sousuke looks at Nagisa’s sister, one eyebrow raised.  “How strong did you make those drinks?”

“I put less than half a shot of vodka in each of them!” she says.  “And it’s that crappy candy-flavored vodka, so it’s about half as strong as the good stuff.  They’re mostly just strawberry soda and grenadine, along with half a jar of cherries.”

Sousuke shudders.  “That sounds disgusting.”

She laughs.  “It is.  I made it up just for him, I call it a Diabetic Coma.  But there’s no way only two would get him drunk.”

“Oi!  Bartender!” someone calls from the other end of the bar.

She looks over and groans.  “I gotta get back to work, would you mind keeping an eye on him for me, Yamazaki-kun?”

Sousuke nods; he was pretty much going to anyway.

“Thanks!” she calls, already on her way to the crowd of waiting customers.

“‘Keep an eye on me’,” Nagisa repeats, still giggling, “yeah right.  Once when she was supposed to be babysitting me, my other sister Natsuki convinced me I could fly like Peter Pan and I jumped off an eight foot high fence onto solid concrete and broke my arm and my two front teeth.”

“Holy shit,” Sousuke says, kind of horrified.  

“I was five,” Nagisa sighs.  “Do you have sisters Sou-chan?”

Sousuke shakes his head.  “Only child.”

Nagisa leans on him heavily again.  “Lucky,” he says into Sousuke’s shirt.  “Oh, you smell nice.”

“Uh, thanks,” Sousuke says, then manages to maneuver him around a bit to lean him on the side of the bar.  He puts a hand on Nagisa’s shoulder, and lifts his chin up a bit with the other.  “Hey,” he says, looking into Nagisa’s eyes.  They’re glassy, and a bit vacant.  “You still with me?”

Nagisa smiles dreamily and nods.  “I… yeah.  Maybe… maybe I need some fresh air though,” he says, slurring his words a bit more than he was a few minutes ago.

Sousuke frowns.  “Sure,” he says, and puts his arm around Nagisa to guide him once more.  He meets the bartender-- Hazuki’s eye and calls out that they’re getting some air, and she nods, looking worried.

It’s a warm night, the temperature not much different when they get outside as it was in the bar, but the air’s not as stale and Sousuke can hear himself think.  He walks Nagisa over to a nearby bench to sit down.  “Better?” he asks.

Nagisa nods.  “Yeah.”  He rests his head against Sousuke’s shoulder and they just sit there quietly for a few minutes.  Sousuke thinks he may have fallen asleep; it’s the longest stretch of time he’s ever been near Nagisa without hearing his voice, so when he does speak again, it startles Sousuke a little.  “You’re wrong, you know.”

“Hmm?  About what?” Sousuke asks him.

Nagisa lifts his head to look at Sousuke, with what looks like great effort.  “You said that Rin-chan was wasting his time teaching Rei-chan how to swim.  You’re wrong,” he says, smiling.  

“Oh yeah?” Sousuke says, amused that he even remembers that.  “So what good does it do Rin?”

Nagisa purses his lips in obvious disapproval.  “Do you even know what Rei-chan did for Rin-chan last year?”

“Yeah, the relay thing.  So, what?  Rin owes him?” Sousuke asks.  “I guess I can understand that, but--”

“That isn’t why!” Nagisa says, his eyelids looking heavy as he shakes his head.  “It’s good for Rin-chan to be around people like Rei-chan.  Rei-chan is… selfless.  And it’s good for Rin-chan to be around him, to remind him that winning isn’t everything.  That he’s important to all of us even when he doesn’t win.  So important that someone like Rei-chan would sacrifice his chance to swim with all of us so that Rin-chan could instead.”  He smiles, a far-off look in his eyes.  “I love Rin-chan, and he’s great now, but you weren’t here last year.  He was so mean… he lost himself.  It was… really hard for all of us.  None of us want to see him go back to that.  So it’s good for him to be around Rei-chan.  Rei-chan is… good for people.”

Sousuke huffs a little.  Nagisa’s out of it, but what he said made sense… in a sappy, naive, idealistic sort of way.  “I thought you weren’t going to talk about Rei.”

He gasps and clasps a hand over his mouth.  “You’re right, oh no!”

“I won’t tell your sister,” Sousuke laughs.  “So what happened there, did you guys have a fight or something?”

Nagisa looks up at him for a moment, but then grabs onto the seat of the bench with both hands and looks at his knees.  

“Hey,” Sousuke says, his hand hovering over Nagisa’s back.  “You okay?  You gonna throw up?”

Nagisa shakes his head.  

“Talk to me,” Sousuke says, trying for a calming tone in his voice.  “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, I just…” Nagisa says quietly, “I feel really fucked up.  I need to lie down maybe.”

Before Sousuke can do anything, Nagisa has his head in Sousuke’s lap and is working on getting his feet up onto the bench as well, even though it’s much too short for his body to fit across.  “Whoa,” Sousuke says.  “Okay, well I can help you get home to lie down if you want, but you really can’t lie down here, all right?  Nagisa?”

Sousuke pushes him up by the shoulders as best he can, re-arranging him to a sitting position on the bench, and takes his face in his hands.  “Nagisa, open your eyes,” he says, and smacks his cheek lightly.

“Hmm,” Nagisa says, and opens his eyes to look at Sousuke.

Sousuke studies him for a few moments.  “You really only had those two drinks?  You swear?”

“I swear,” Nagisa says, nodding, and lets his eyes slip closed again.

Sousuke grits his teeth and lets a breath out through his nose.  “Fuck.  Shit.  Okay, Nagisa, we have to walk back in the bar for a minute, then we’ll get you home.”

If anything, he’s glad that he just had physical therapy and his shoulder isn’t bothering him much tonight, because hauling Nagisa up and making him walk would be a hell of a lot more of a chore if it were.  When they make it back inside and over to the bar where Nagisa’s sister is, she’s still completely slammed making drinks, and it takes a few moments for her to notice them.  

“What happened?” she asks, looking alarmed when she sees Nagisa fairly limp against Sousuke.

Sousuke leans in so she can hear him over the crowd.  “I think someone put something in his drink.”

“What?!” she cries.  “Like drugged him?  How can you tell?”

“I’ve seen it before,” Sousuke says, trying to keep Nagisa steady.

“Oh my god,” his sister says, running a hand through her hair tensely.  “Who would do that?”

He looks over to the corner where the group of college boys had all been crowding around Nagisa earlier, but now the table is occupied by a group of men in white dress shirts and loosened ties.  The ones who’d been offering Nagisa drinks have split up, maybe some have taken off by now, and even if they haven’t, Sousuke’s not really sure he could pick them out of the crowd.

“Some guys were hitting on him,” Sousuke says.  “I don’t know which one did it, but-- look, I just need to get him home.  Can you tell me how to get there?”

She shakes her head suddenly.  “You can’t take him home, our parents will kill him for drinking… and me for letting this happen.  They keep him under their thumb enough as it is, they’ll never let him out of their sight if they see him like this.  Should he go to the hospital?”

Sousuke shakes his head.  “He’ll be fine once he sleeps it off.”

“Okay,” she says, biting her lip.  “My apartment’s close, but I can’t leave til closing, and I have no one to cover for me.  Maybe I can kick everyone out of the bar and close early, but--”

“It’s fine,” Sousuke reassures her, “I can take him if you give me directions.”

Nagisa’s sister (Hazuki Nanako, Sousuke finds out when she scrawls it on a piece of paper along with her address and phone number in case he needs it) thanks him about a hundred times while handing him her spare set of keys she keeps under the bar, but Sousuke tells her every time that it’s nothing, he’s happy to help.  

It isn’t really nothing, of course, this is not how he had pictured spending his Friday night, but if nothing else, Nagisa is important to Rin, and Sousuke feels obligated to look out for him.  Besides, he likes Nagisa, and it makes him furious that some guy would do this to him.  If he didn’t have to worry about getting Nagisa to his sister’s apartment safely, he’d probably try and go after the guy who did it, which he knows is a bad idea.  Better to deal with the problem at hand.

Getting Nagisa onto the train is a bit of an ordeal, but they manage, and Nanako’s is the first stop.  After the train, it’s a bit tougher.  Nagisa’s basically passed out by now, and trying to get him to move his feet is practically impossible.  Sousuke considers getting a cab, but it’s a relatively quiet part of town, and there are none to be seen.  He sighs loudly, steeling himself for the inevitable.  

Actually, once Sousuke picks Nagisa up and gets him situated, his head against Sousuke’s left shoulder, arms draped around Sousuke’s neck, it isn’t as hard as he thought it would be to carry him.  He’s feather-light, and actually sort of complies when Sousuke positions him, like a small child being carried to bed by a parent after falling asleep somewhere else.

Nanako’s apartment is small, and a bit messy, but Sousuke has an easy enough time locating the bedroom and dumps Nagisa into the bed as gently as he can.  He stretches his shoulders and back, glad to be free of the weight before hunting down a glass in the kitchen.  He fills it with water and brings it back to the bedroom, sitting down gingerly next to Nagisa on the bed and gently coaxing him to sit up just a bit.  He manages to get him to swallow about a third of the glass before water starts dribbling down his chin, which Sousuke wipes off with Nanako’s bedsheet.  He sighs.  “And somehow I still think you’re cute,” he mutters.

He gets Nagisa’s shoes and socks off, but leaves everything else before covering him with blankets, and collapsing into a closeby armchair.  After a moment, he realizes he’s sitting on a pile of Nanako’s laundry and does his best to remove it without getting up again.  It’s not even very late at night, but he’s so exhausted he can barely keep his eyes open, and it’s only a few minutes before he dozes off.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey kids, if you get roofied, pls go to the hospital, thank u

It’s exactly 5 o’clock when Sousuke wakes up, still in the armchair he passed out in last night, his internal clock too perfectly regulated to sleep in.  He woke a few times during the night, just to check that Nagisa was still breathing normally and hadn’t rolled onto his back.  He’d tried to force him to drink some more water, but was mostly unsuccessful.

He stands up and stretches, his body a bit stiff from sleeping sitting upright in a chair all night, and takes his phone out of his pocket to text Rin.  Tachibana probably ended up staying over, and Rin probably didn’t spare Sousuke a second thought, but they always text in the morning when they spend the night somewhere else, just to let the other know they’re okay.  He briefly contemplates telling him about what happened with Nagisa-- he’s Rin’s friend more than he is Sousuke’s after all-- but decides against it.  Nagisa’s the one it happened to, so it should be his choice whether he tells anyone about it or not.

After a few more stretches, he gets himself a drink of water from the kitchen, uses the bathroom, and borrows a swig of mouthwash from the bottle on Nanako’s cluttered counter.  He’s never actually lived with a girl, but he’d always thought they were supposed to be neat and clean while boys were slobs, but this apartment is evidence to the contrary.  Of course, he can’t picture Nagisa keeping his room very orderly either, so maybe the messiness isn’t necessarily a girl thing but more of a Hazuki family trait.

Nanako still hasn’t come home, but she did say she had to stay until closing, and Sousuke’s pretty sure the bar stays open until 5, and she probably has to clean up some before leaving.  He sends her a text letting her know that Nagisa is doing okay, still sleeping, and she replies quickly with a “thank you!  be there as soon as i can!”

He starts to get a little restless, so he does some more stretching.  He can’t exactly do his usual morning workout routine here, but there’s enough room for sit-ups, so he does five sets of twenty, stopping before he starts to get too sweaty in someone else’s apartment where he can’t exactly shower or change clothes.

When he’s finished, he goes back into the bedroom to grab a protein bar from his backpack, only to find Nagisa sitting up slightly in his sister’s bed, his eyes open, but looking disoriented.

“Hey,” Sousuke says, hanging back by the doorway like he might spook Nagisa if he moves toward him too quickly.  “How do you feel?”

Nagisa looks at him, blinking slowly a few times.  “I..” he starts, his voice sounding raspy.  “Uh.”

Sousuke approaches him now, and hands him the glass of water that was still sitting on the table next to the bed.  “Here,” he says quietly, “drink as much as you can.  Do you feel sick?”

“Should I?” Nagisa asks after he downs the water.  Aside from looking confused, his hair is a mess, and there are still little smudges of black under his eyes where the eyeliner had been so perfectly applied last night.

“Not necessarily,” Sousuke says, taking the glass back and setting it down again.  He sits down on the edge of the bed, still keeping an appropriate distance away from Nagisa.  “Some people do, but usually when they’ve had a lot more alcohol than you did.”

Nagisa frowns.  “Alcohol, right,” he says slowly.  “Did I get drunk?  I don’t remember.”  He puts his palm to his forehead and squeezes his eyes shut tight, like he’s trying to force his brain to work correctly and it just isn’t cooperating.  It makes Sousuke’s chest feel tight.  “I feel like… I just woke up after surgery.”

Sousuke sighs, hating that he has to be the one to break the news.  “You didn’t get drunk.  You got roofied.”

Nagisa’s head snaps up and his eyes grow wide in shock.

“Don’t worry,” Sousuke says quickly, trying to reassure him.  “I realized it right away, and I didn’t let anything happen to you.  You’re safe, nothing happened.”

It takes a moment for Nagisa to process the information, looking down at the blankets and clenching and unclenching them in his hands, lost in thought, and Sousuke waits patiently before saying anything else.  “Nothing happened…” Nagisa echoes quietly after several moments.  “I still feel weird though, like my brain is underwater.  It’s hard to think.”

Sousuke nods, unsurprised.  “The effects usually last around twelve hours, so you’ll still be feeling off for a little while.  What do you remember?”

“I got to the bar, talked to my sister for a while, she made me a drink, a few guys talked to me…” he says, furrowing his brows in concentration.  “Then I remember you showing up, and I think maybe, I made fun of your face?  And then nothing.”

“How about when we talked outside?” Sousuke asks, and Nagisa shakes his head.  “Leaving the bar?  The train?”  

Nagisa shakes his head again.  “You took me on the train?”

“Well I had to get you here somehow.  Your sister couldn’t leave work, and I couldn’t just let you pass out at the bar,” Sousuke says.  “The train was the easy part.  Carrying you bridal-style for four blocks and up two flights of stairs was a little tricker, but we made it.”

“What?!” Nagisa exclaims, his face turning pink before he buries it in his hands.  “That’s so humiliating, I wanna die!”

Sousuke shrugs.  “Wasn’t so bad.  You don’t weigh much.”

An exaggerated whine escapes through his hands, and Sousuke can’t help smiling just a little bit.  He scoots a few inches closer and gently pries one of Nagisa’s hands from his face, making him look up again.  “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Sousuke says gently.  “Seriously, it wasn’t your fault, it’s not like you wanted that to happen.”

Nagisa exhales, still frowning, but nods.  “We didn’t like… make out or anything, did we?” he asks hesitantly.

“What?  No,” Sousuke says adamantly, shaking his head.  “God, no, you were blacked out, _unconscious_ , that would have been…”  

A relieved smile appears on Nagisa’s face, but it lacks his usual exuberance.  He still looks exhausted.  “Okay, good.  I mean, just because--”

“Yeah,” Sousuke says quickly, “I know.”

For a long moment, they both just look at one another, and Sousuke feels like he should keep reassuring him that he’s okay, he’ll be fine, but he doesn’t want to sound condescending, so he’s not really sure what to say.

“So,” Nagisa starts, a bit awkwardly, “how did you know?  I mean, you said you knew right away.  Did that ever…”

“Happen to me?” Sousuke offers, and Nagisa nods.  “No.  But I’ve seen it a lot.”  Nagisa raises his eyebrows in question.  Sousuke scratches the back of his head and starts to explain.  “So, my dad has his own practice now, but he used to work in the ER, and he made me volunteer at the free clinic a lot, like on school breaks and long weekends.  I think he was trying to get me to forget the whole swimming thing and be a doctor.”

Nagisa huffs humorlessly.  “I know what that’s like.”

Sousuke pauses for a moment, remembering what Nanako had said about their parents keeping Nagisa on a short leash, and he finds himself wanting to know more.  More about what things are like for him at home, and how his parents treat him, and if he defies them or tries to play the good son amongst-- how many sisters?  Two?  Three?  He just wants to know more about him, period, because it seems like maybe there’s a lot more to him than Sousuke thought, beneath the cheerful, smiley exterior.  

“Anyway,” Sousuke continues, because, right, he was explaining something, “I mostly did cleanup or filing papers or whatever, but I worked a lot of nights and early mornings, so I saw a lot of drunk and hung over people.  Sometimes there was alcohol poisoning, or they’d hurt themselves, but a lot of the time they’d find drugs in their system.  It happens way more than anyone talks about.  I think a lot of the time, if people hadn’t come in to the clinic, they would never have known.  They’d have just thought they drank way too much.”  He sighs, remembering how at first, he hadn’t believed Nagisa about how little he’d had to drink.  He feels guilty, but there’s no sense dwelling on it.  “But you barely drank anything last night and you were totally out of it.  Even if you’re a lightweight, you wouldn’t have been that messed up from two drinks, there’s no way.”

Nagisa nods, looking grim.  “I’m glad you were there,” he says, looking up from his hands to Sousuke, and there’s an extra shine to his eyes, like tears might spring out of them at any moment.  “I don’t know what would have happened if--”

“Hey,” Sousuke interrupts him, because he’s never known how to deal with his friends crying in front of him.  “I _was_ there, and _nothing_ happened, so there’s no point in speculating.  I was with you the whole time, and you’re okay.”

The tears spill over anyway, despite Sousuke’s platitudes.  “I know, you’re right,” Nagisa says, his voice cracking around his words, his chin trembling.  

Sousuke’s chest tightens and his stomach wrenches just watching it, and he can’t just sit here and watch him fall apart, so he reaches over slowly and smooths Nagisa’s hair down on one side, and when Nagisa doesn’t pull away but closes his eyes and leans ever-so-slightly into the touch, he repeats the motion a few more times.  “You’re okay,” Sousuke says again, his voice low, and soothing.  He swipes his thumb over one cheek and then the other, until it seems like no more tears are falling (at least not at the moment), and Nagisa’s breathing finally calms down.  

“Sou-chan--” he says, opening his eyes, but he stops at the sound of the front door being unlocked and opened.

He quickly sits up a little straighter than he had been and wipes at his own eyes now, rougher and more thoroughly than Sousuke had done, while Sousuke withdraws his hand and scoots back so that he’s just leaning more than actually sitting, on the furthest edge of the bed.

When Nanako walks into the bedroom, she looks frazzled and tired, not at all like Sousuke is used to seeing her, so cheerful at the beginning of her shift, and beelines straight to Nagisa.  “Oh, you’re awake!” she says, throwing her arms around him.  “Are you okay, how do you feel?  Do you remember anything?  Did Yamazaki-kun tell you what happened?”

Sousuke smiles as Nagisa tries to tell her that he’s fine, but she keeps bombarding him with questions until he physically pushes her off and tells her to stop fussing.  

“He should probably have some more water and go back to sleep,” Sousuke suggests to Nanako, who looks slightly embarrassed at her display.  

“Right,” she says, wearing a smile that looks forced, and goes to the kitchen for another glass of water.  

“You think you can fall asleep?” Sousuke asks after she’s out of the room.  

Nagisa nods.  “I think so, I’m really tired, and I still feel kinda drunk.”

“It’ll help,” Sousuke promises, and stands up, going for his backpack that’s still in the armchair.  

“Oh,” Nagisa says, sounding surprised and disappointed, and Sousuke looks over, his eyebrows raised.  “Are you… You have to go?”

Sousuke glances down at his phone and sees two messages from Rin, the first one just a response to his check-in text from earlier, the second reminding him that they’re due at Iwatobi SC Returns at noon.  Shit, he completely forgot Rin signed them up to volunteer to help out for some kids’ free swimming event today.  Sousuke blames Tachibana, though Rin claims it was his idea.

“Yeah, I have to get back,” he tells Nagisa, putting his phone back in his pocket.  “Rin’s expecting me.”

Nagisa looks crestfallen, but he nods anyway.  Nanako brings his water to him, and he drinks it slowly, looking miserable.  “Right,” he says quietly.  “Of course.”

Sousuke feels his resolve crumbling the longer he looks at Nagisa, so he checks his phone once more, and the hour’s still early, so fuck it.  “I could stay until you fall asleep?” he offers, looking to Nanako to see if it’s all right.  It is her apartment after all.  

She nods vigorously and runs her fingers through Nagisa’s hair.  “Anything you want,” she says to him in a motherly voice, and Nagisa makes a face at her, but looks up at Sousuke and smiles.

“That would be good,” he says, and Sousuke nods, and tosses his backpack back into the chair.  He settles back onto the edge of the bed next to Nagisa, this time leaning back against the headboard, and waits until Nagisa squirms all the way under the blankets again and closes his eyes before looking at him fondly, watching some of the signs of stress leave his face as he relaxes.

“Hmm,” Nanako says after a few minutes of silence, startling Sousuke, who had begun to forget she was still in the room.  He looks at her and raises his eyebrows.

“It’s just, I thought you were so much older when you first came into the bar,” she muses.  “But you’d have to be, what, eighteen?”

Sousuke smiles sheepishly.  “Not until September.”

She laughs softly, shaking her head.  “Seventeen, wow.  And I thought you were so hot, too.  Now it’s just creepy.”

Sousuke laughs quietly too, neglecting to mention that he’s gone home with guys her age or maybe older on more than one occasion.  

She sighs, and runs her fingers lightly through Nagisa’s hair again.  He doesn’t stir this time, and his breathing is shallow and even.  “I’m really, really glad you were there last night.  I don’t want to think about what might have happened if you weren’t watching out for him.”

“Yeah,” Sousuke says quietly, his gaze drawn back to Nagisa’s face.  He doesn’t really look much younger than usual when he’s sleeping-- he already looks so young anyway-- but he does look different.  Softer.  “Me neither.”

“You…” she says hesitantly.  “You care about him, huh?”

Sousuke frowns.  “I barely know know him,” he says, shrugging.  “He’s friends with my best friend, I’ve really only met him a couple of times.”

This seems to strike Nanako as interesting.  “Oh.  My mistake.  Sorry, it just seems like you’re kind of attached to him, that’s all.”

Sousuke’s eyebrows knit together.  “No, nothing like that.  I was just trying to help out.  I’m not… attached.”

“Hmm.”  There’s the barest hint of mischief in Nanako’s smile, and even though the two look nothing alike, he can suddenly see clearly that she’s Nagisa’s sister.  “Someone should tell your face.”

Sousuke feels his ears get suspiciously hot, but he can’t think of anything to say to that, so he rolls his eyes instead and makes a quiet sort of contrary grunting sound.  “I should go,” he manages eventually, and removes himself from the bed as carefully as he can, so as not to disturb Nagisa.  

“Thank you, Yamazaki-kun,” Nanako says, as he’s putting his backpack on, her tone serious again.  “You really saved the day.”

He shrugs.  “I’m just happy he’s okay.  You should get some sleep too.”

She smiles at him, looking every bit as tired as she must feel.  “I will.”

Sousuke gives back her house keys before he leaves, and she pulls him into an unexpected hug and thanks him again.  By the time he actually makes it out the door, he’s got two new messages from Rin wondering where he is.

 

~~~

 

“So you’re still not going to tell me.”

Sousuke sighs loudly as he unzips his jacket.  “If I said I wouldn’t tell you earlier, what makes you think I’d suddenly tell you now?”

Rin rolls his eyes.  “Tch, fine, keep your secrets,” he says petulantly.  They both finish stowing their gym bags into their lockers and start walking briskly in the direction of the pool.

“It isn’t my secret to tell,” Sousuke says, trying to placate his stubborn best friend.  “I already told you, last night was weird and mostly awful and actually... pretty scary, but everything turned out okay by this morning, so you don’t have to worry about me or anyone else who may have been involved.  Fair enough?”

“You can’t just say shit like that and expect me not to be curious, because obviously ‘anyone else who may have been involved’ is someone I know, otherwise it wouldn’t matter if you told me,” Rin says, still looking irritated but also excessively proud of his deductive reasoning skills.  Suddenly he makes a horrified face.  “Wait.  Weird, awful, scary… and it involves someone I know... You’re banging Haru, aren’t you?”

“Wow,” Sousuke deadpans, “thank you, my balls actually just shrank up into my body.  Would you please stop torturing yourself, and me, and just focus on getting this over with?” he grumbles, the scent of excessive chlorine hitting his nose once they reach the pool.  He’d guess they’re trying to overcompensate with the chemicals to counteract the effect of a thousand dirty little kids in the pool at once, or so it looks like.

“Over with?”

Sousuke and Rin both turn at once, only to be confronted by Tachibana’s widely smiling face.

“Hey,” Rin says, trying to hide his own smile but failing miserably, lighting up like a Christmas tree the moment he sees his boyfriend.  He pinches Tachibana lightly on the elbow, and Tachibana’s grin grows more than should be physically possible, and Sousuke only throws up in his mouth a little.

“Why do you want to get today over with?” Tachibana asks when he finally tears his eyes away from Rin to look at Sousuke.  “Rin said you loved kids, and you were really looking forward to helping out today.”

Sousuke just glares at Rin, but Rin smirks and kicks at his leg with his knee.  “Oh, he’s great with kids, loves kids, right Sousuke?”

Sousuke gathers all his inner strength (wondering not for the first time why he didn’t just say no when Rin asked him to come along in the first place, why he _never_ says no when Rin asks something of him, but then again, he knows, it’s Rin after all, and Rin’s the reason why he’s here, back in town, putting off surgery and still swimming when he knows he shouldn’t be, just to chase some remnant of a dream that he can barely even articulate into words, so most of the time saying no to Rin just isn’t something that even occurs to him) and smiles at the two of them.  “You bet.”

“Great!” Makoto says.  He squeezes Rin gently on the shoulder.  “So, we’ve got the first groups ready and divided by age.  Haru and I are taking the six through nine year olds, and you and Yamazaki will take the ten through twelves.  I’m putting the littlest ones with Rei and Nagisa.  And just like we talked about earlier, keep it simple, basic techniques only, they’re all beginners and this is just a free introduction day to try and generate new membership, so--”

Sousuke had sort of zoned out for a few moments while Tachibana was speaking, but suddenly he whips his head toward them again.  “Nagisa’s here?” he asks angrily.

Tachibana looks flustered at Sousuke’s harsh tone.  “Uh, well, I didn’t see him yet, but, uh, he should be over with Rei--”

Sousuke scans the crowd for several moments, and finally spots the back of a blond head over by the entrance.  He can’t quite tell if it’s Nagisa, but he starts taking fast, long strides in that direction.  He hears Rin call his name and ask where he’s going, and he tells him he’ll be back in a minute, waving a hand dismissively behind him as he goes.  When he gets closer, he sees that it’s definitely Nagisa lingering by the doorway, but he’s wearing street clothes instead of a swimsuit, unlike Rei, who’s standing next to him.

“Hey, Nagisa,” Sousuke says sharply when he reaches him, taking his arm by the elbow and pulling him into the reception area.

“Uh, Yamazaki-san?” Rei sputters, confused, and follows them.

“Sou-chan!” Nagisa says excitedly.

Sousuke gives him a disapproving look, and ignores Rei completely.  “What are you doing here?” he demands.  “You shouldn’t be swimming today, you should be home in bed.”

Nagisa’s smile grows wider and more playful.  “Aw, you’re worried about me Sou-chan?”

“Yes,” Sousuke says seriously, refusing to give in to his teasing.  “You need more rest.”  He touches Nagisa’s chin gently, more gently than his voice is sounding right now, tilting it up with his finger.  The traces of makeup that remained around his eyes this morning are gone now, but his skin is pallid and there are faint purple shadows under his eyes.  “You look pale.  Did Nanako make you breakfast?”

The teasing expression fades from Nagisa’s face, but a soft smile remains.  “No, she crashed.  I only woke up a little while ago, but I had a cream puff from the coffee shop at the station on my way here.”

Sousuke frowns, withdrawing his hand.  “That’s not proper food,” he scolds.  “Eat a banana, and something with protein; you need to get your strength back.  And there’s no way you’re swimming today.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry!” Nagisa laughs.  “I only came here on my way home to let Mako-chan know that I couldn’t help out with the kids like I promised.  Will you tell him for me Rei-chan?” he asks, turning to Rei.

Sousuke, who’d forgotten Rei was even there, looks at him as well.  “Uh, yes,” Rei says, looking from Sousuke back to Nagisa.  It’s clear he’s even more curious about the connection between the two of them than he was the last time he caught them talking, outside at Samezuka.  To his credit though, he doesn’t mention it.  “Of course.  And, if you’re sick, Nagisa-kun, I can bring you soup later, once I’m done here.”

Nagisa punches Rei lightly on the arm.  “Thanks, Rei-chan, you’re the best!”

Rei straightens his glasses and nods before giving Sousuke one last appraising look and going back toward the pool to give Tachibana the message.

“Are you sure you can make it home on your own?” Sousuke asks, turning his attention back to Nagisa.

“Yeah,” he says.  “I feel much better, really.  You were right; I just needed more rest.”

Sousuke hums in agreement.  “Here, look at me,” he says, bending down slightly to look at Nagisa’s eyes.  They no longer look glazed over, and his pupils aren’t dilated.  “Follow my finger with your eyes, okay?” he says, holding his index finger up between their faces.  He moves it left, then right, then up and down.  Nagisa’s eyes follow it, his reaction time normal.  “No more dizziness?”

Nagisa shakes his head, and Sousuke finally smiles.  “Good,” he says, and touches his finger to the end of Nagisa’s nose.  “I think you’re okay then.”

There’s a slight pink hue dusting Nagisa’s cheeks now as Sousuke takes his hand back and crosses his arms over his chest.  “And you’ve even got some color back, that’s good.”

Nagisa swallows visibly, and gives Sousuke a slight smile.  “Right,” he breathes.  “Well, uh, thanks again, Sou-chan!  You really--  You’re the best!  I really owe you one!” he says loudly, laughing a little awkwardly.  He takes a few steps backward toward the front door, stumbles a bit, then catches himself, and laughs again.  “Well, I’ll see you around I guess, soon, I hope!” he says as he’s leaving.

Sousuke watches him go, smiling.  Once he’s out of sight, he heads back toward the pool, where he’s sure Rin will have a hundred more questions for him, but he’ll just brush them off again for now.  He feels guilty, keeping things from his best friend (and now the list keeps growing), but he’ll make it up to him eventually.  For now, he’s just glad that Nagisa’s okay.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A broken laptop plus crazy RL stuff equals a month between chapters, whoops.
> 
> If you want faster updates, feel free to yell at me in the form of a compliment on my tumblr  
> rubysword dot tumblr dot com

Sousuke decides to avoid the bar for a while.  The whole experience with Nagisa has soured him on drinking, and it’s not like it’s so great for his health either.  So now after physical therapy, he heads straight back to the dorms to his (empty, more often than not) room, to study and turn in early.  It gets a little lonely when Rin is busy with Tachibana or Rei, and he could go down the hall and ask Nitori if he needs anymore coaching, but he’s pretty much got their new regimen down by now, and besides, Sousuke has never really minded being on his own.  

Sure, going out and getting laid might be nice, it’s been a few weeks, but his heart isn’t really in it, it seems like an awful lot of effort these days, and anyway, he finds himself significantly less sexually frustrated when Rin and Tachibana take their activities to a place that isn’t two feet below him, like they’ve so considerately been doing lately.  After he yelled at them.  Loudly.

It’s barely 10 o’clock and he’s just settling into bed when he feels his phone buzz from somewhere under or around his pillow.  He forgot to plug it in, so he figures maybe it’s just telling him the battery is dying, but when he finally locates it, he sees a message from a number he doesn’t recognize.  

_hey sou-chan_

Sousuke doesn’t have to guess who it’s from.  Before he can reply, he gets 2 more, in quick succession.  

_i got your number from my sister_

_don’t be mad_

Sousuke rolls his eyes and sends his own message back.   _I’m not mad._

Nagisa’s replies are lighting fast.   _oh good!  hey can i call you?  i don’t have the attention span for texting_

_Sure_ , Sousuke sends back.  There’s a little prickle of worry in the back of his mind, even though Nagisa’s messages don’t seem too urgent.  His thoughts automatically turn to Nagisa needing help, Nagisa in tears.  He tries to keep the concern out of his voice when he answers the call.

“Hey.”

“Sou-chan, hi!” Nagisa says cheerfully, though his voice is much quieter than Sousuke was expecting.  “You really don’t mind I got your number without asking you?”

“No,” Sousuke says.  “Doesn’t matter.  Why are you whispering?  Is everything okay?”

Nagisa laughs quietly.  “Yeah, I’m fine, I just don’t want my parents to hear.  I’m not supposed to even have my phone on weeknights, but I know where my mom hides it, so I got it back.”

“Wow, really?” Sousuke asks, frowning.  “Sounds kinda harsh.”

“Yeah, it’s the worst!  But they want me studying, and just talking to friends on weekends,” he says, making light of it.

Sousuke sighs.  “So why didn’t you just keep texting me then?  If you’re scared of getting caught.”

“Excuse you, I’m fully capable of keeping my voice quiet,” he says defensively.

“That remains to be seen,” Sousuke laughs.  “So what’s up?”

“Well, uh…”  There’s a pause, and Sousuke hears some rustling on the other end, and wonders briefly if Nagisa’s in bed, like he is.  “I just wanted to invite you to my birthday party next weekend,” he says quickly.  “Rin-chan’s coming for sure, and I’m pretty sure Mako-chan told him to bring whatever friends he wants, but, I guess I just wanted to ask you myself.”

Sousuke’s quiet for a moment, because whatever he may have been expecting to hear, that wasn’t it.  Everything to do with Nagisa in their brief time of being acquainted has been questionable or odd or dire, and a birthday party invitation just seems so… normal.

“I really, really want you to go,” Nagisa adds when Sousuke forgets to respond.  “So, can you make it?”

“Of course,” Sousuke says, and immediately hears a squeal from the other end.  He shushes Nagisa, reminding him about not waking his parents, and asks when he should plan on getting there.

“Oh, everyone’s supposed to show up at 6:30 on Friday, but I’m not getting there until 7 o’clock for the surprise.”

“Surprise?” Sousuke asks.

“Yeah, Mako-chan told everyone to make sure to get there in plenty of time to hide so that when I come in and the lights are all off, you can all yell ‘Surprise!’  It’s gonna be great.”

Sousuke closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose.  “You’re inviting me… to your own surprise party.”

“Yeah!” Nagisa exclaims, then after a beat says, “Oh, heh, yeah, I mean... I already know about it.”

“Yeah, I caught that.”

He laughs a little awkwardly.  “Well, obviously I’m not _supposed_ to, but Mako-chan and Rei-chan are both really bad at sneaking around and talking quietly-- where _I_ , on the other hand, am capable of being very sneaky, and heard them planning it about a week ago.”

Sousuke laughs.  “Yeah, I don’t know about Rei, but Tachibana’s definitely not very skilled at using his quiet voice.”

There’s a dramatic intake of breath on the other end, and Nagisa whipsers, “Sou-chan!  What exactly could you be referring to?  I need details.”

“Oh my god, forget I said anything,” Sousuke groans, still laughing.

“No way!  That is a physical impossibility!  I’ve been trying to snake details from those two since they got together, you have to give me _something,_ ” he insists.

Sousuke sighs.  “I can’t, I’m pretty sure that would be violating best-friend-slash-roommate code.  Can’t do it.”

“Sou-chan,” Nagisa whines, and Sousuke’s pretty sure he can hear the sound of him throwing himself down on his bed emphatically.  “That’s not fair!”

“It’s completely fair,” Sousuke says, smiling more than he should at Nagisa’s pouting.  “I never told Rin any kind of sensitive information about _you_ , you know.  Not even that night I covered for you outside the pool.  Even though you never told me why you were sneaking around out there in the first place.”

“Yes, yes, Sou-chan, I get it, you’re so trustworthy and loyal,” Nagisa sings.  “Like a labrador.”

“Hey--”

“Like a very strong and muscular labrador with shiny black fur and pretty blue-green eyes,” he corrects himself.

“Better,” Sousuke laughs.

“And a big nose.”

“Wha-- shut up.”  Sousuke’s hand flies up to his nose, which is admittedly _slightly_ larger than average, but he’s a big guy, and his eyes are big, and his lips, and he’s always thought it fit pretty well on his face.  “We can’t all have dainty little button-noses like you.”

“Don’t deflect by making fun of the perfection of my bone structure!” Nagisa says.  “And anyway, I know you did cover for me, more than once, and I appreciate it, okay?”

Nagisa’s sudden switch from his constant joking tone disarms Sousuke for a moment.  “Y-yeah.  No problem.”

“And if you really want to know why you lied for me, like I owe it to you or something,” he continues, “then I’ll tell you.  It’s only fair I guess.”

Sousuke mulls this over for a moment, because he really is curious-- more about what happened between Nagisa and Rei recently than about that night in particular.  But Nagisa still seems a little reluctant to talk about it, and it doesn’t feel right to push.  “I don’t think you owe me anything,” he says finally.  “Whatever’s going on between you and Rei, that’s your business.  If you want to tell me about it, I’ll listen, I’m interested, but you shouldn’t feel like you’re obligated.”

Nagisa’s quiet for a few moments, and Sousuke hears a little breath of a laugh.  “That’s just-- you're secretly a huge sweetheart, aren’t you?”

Sousuke laughs, and it’s at this exact moment that Rin decides to come in for the evening, a perplexed look instantly on his face when he sees Sousuke on the phone.  “I don’t know why you’re so surprised every time, I’ve never given anyone any reason to think I’m anything but an adorable sweetheart,” Sousuke says quietly into the phone, turning more toward the wall, attempting a thin illusion of privacy.  Rin chokes on his laugh anyway.

Nagisa laughs too.  “You should look up the term 'resting bitch face' sometime,” he says, still giggling.  “There’s probably a picture of you underneath the definition.”

Sousuke groans.  “All right, all right, as much as I enjoy always being verbally abused by you, I should go.”

“Oh, right,” Nagisa says, sounding slightly disappointed.  “Yeah, it’s kind of late, huh?”

“Yeah,” Sousuke says, still trying to hide his smile from Rin, but feeling Rin’s eyes burning a hole in the back of his head.  “But I’ll be at the party, for sure.”

He can almost hear Nagisa’s grin when he tells him that, and they both say a quick goodnight before hanging up.  Reluctantly, and with a deep sigh, he turns over to face Rin, who looks like he can’t decide if he wants to seem more judgmental or amused.

“Go ahead,” Sousuke tells him.

Rin flashes a wicked smile.  “And here we witness the extremely rare courting phase of the Yamazaki mating ritual, which only occurs when his desired mate does not immediately drop trou at the first sign of his interest, or once every 36th lunar cycle, whichever comes first.”

“You are not as cute as you think you are, I want you to know that.”

Rin laughs for almost a full minute, while Sousuke rolls his eyes.  “I’m sorry,” he says, wiping his eyes, “I’m sorry, I just never thought I’d witness you being all cutesy on the phone with some boy you’re not even sleeping with.”

“I have literally seen you text an entire conversation with Tachibana in nothing but cat emoticons,” Sousuke says flatly, “so if we’re comparing who’s more embarrassing--”

“Yeah, fair point,” Rin says, holding his hands up in surrender.  

Sousuke turns toward the wall while Rin gets undressed and climbs into the bed below him.  “And how do you know I’m not sleeping with him?” he asks suddenly.

“Uh, that was Nagisa, right?” Rin asks suspiciously.

“Yeah.”

“Right, so I just talked to him earlier and I’m pretty sure I would know if his virginity were no longer intact,” Rin says.

“Mm-hmm,” Sousuke says, “because you have some kind of sixth sense that can tell you whether your friends have gotten laid, or…?"

Rin yawns and Sousuke hears him kicking at his blanket trying to get comfortable.  “No, because it’s _Nagisa,_ ” he says knowingly.  “Have you met him?  He’d send out a celebratory mass text before the condom came off.  So yeah, I think I would know if your dick had gotten anywhere near his ass.”

Sousuke rolls his eyes.  “Okay, I’ll give you that one,” he says.  “But anyway, how do you know it wouldn’t be the other way around, huh?”

Rin pauses for a moment, then laughs.  “What, like his dick and your ass?”

“You don’t know what I’m about, Matsuoka,” Sousuke says, closing his eyes and folding his hands behind his head.

“Oh my god,” Rin groans.  “I don’t need to know that shit, now all I can picture is a pomeranian giving it to a great dane, because that’s exactly what it would look like.”

Sousuke laughs.  “That’s the second time someone compared me to a dog today.”

“Go to sleep, Sousuke!” Rin says, laughing too, but Sousuke can tell he’s trying not to.  He kicks the top bunk so that Sousuke’s mattress jabs right up into his lower back.   “Quit talking about my friends’ dicks, it’s weird!”

Sousuke hums in agreement and rolls over, his eyes still closed.  After a moment, he says, “He’s really a virgin though?”

“I swear to god--”

“Okay, okay, goodnight.”

 

~~~

 

He skips practice again Thursday.  His shoulder is feeling wrecked and he’s planning on skipping physical therapy in order to make it to Nagisa’s party on time, so Sousuke figures he’d better not push it this week.  He already dry-swallowed two over-the-counter anti-inflammatories, and rubbed some salve on his skin, but the ache is deep today, and stretching is only making the pain worse.  He tried getting ahead on his homework to take his mind off it, which worked for a little while, but he’s starting to get antsy.  He’s lying on Rin’s bed with his books spread out around him, just starting to entertain the thought of jerking off instead while he has the room to himself and can be sure Rin won’t be back for a while, when there’s a loud rap on the door and it suddenly bangs open half a second later.

Sousuke’s first thought is that it must be Momo, and he’s going to have to murder him for scaring the shit out of him like that, but when he sits up, he sees that he’s wrong.

“I knew you’d be here!” Nagisa accuses upon entering the room, closing the door behind him.

“Uh,” Sousuke says, still blinking in surprise at seeing Nagisa in his dorm.  “Well, it’s my room, so yeah.”

Nagisa rolls his eyes and closes the door behind him.  He’s wearing his jammers with his swim club jacket, but his hair’s still dry, which tells Sousuke that today’s practice must have been shared with Iwatobi, but for some reason Nagisa’s here instead of at the pool.  “Yeah, but when I asked Rin-chan where you were, he said, ‘Tch, who knows,’ and I said, ‘I bet I know!’ and he said, ‘Congratulations, now get in the pool,’ but then instead of getting in the pool, I left when he and Mako-chan weren’t looking, and I came here to find you, and then it was now, and now here you are!”

Sousuke squints a little at Nagisa, somewhat confused about what just came out of his mouth, but more about his existence in general.  “Okay,” he says slowly, his eyebrows furrowed.  “So why’d you need to find me?”

Nagisa beams proudly.  “I brought you a present!” he says, swinging his heavy-looking backpack off of his shoulders so that it lands hard on the desk chair with a thud.  “But first, you have to tell me why you’re skipping practice.”

“Uh,” Sousuke says, sitting up a little straighter on the bed.  He gathers up the papers he was neglecting on the bed next to him and stacks them neatly on top of his books.  “Behind on my studies.”

“Nope!” Nagisa chirps, and takes the stack of homework from Sousuke and tosses it on the floor, then plops down on the bed in its place.  “That’s not the reason, but nice effort.  Try again.”

Sousuke scowls, because seriously, what the hell is with the inquisition.  “Maybe it’s not your business,” he says coolly.  

Nagisa considers this for a moment, still looking unfazed.  “True, but not relevant.”

Sousuke likes Nagisa, he really does, even though he knows that Nagisa can be tactless and invasive, and he’s almost used to it, but he’s starting to poke too near Sousuke’s sore spot, and it’s making him defensive.  “Look--”

“No, you look,” Nagisa says, dropping the smile from his face.  “I know something’s wrong, and I know that whatever it is, you haven’t told Rin-chan.  That makes me think it’s a really big deal, and now you’re skipping practice, and Rin-chan says you disappear sometimes, and I know you haven’t been to my sister’s work lately, and I know you’re hiding something, and hiding things sucks, and you should just tell me, okay!”

Sousuke looks at Nagisa for a moment.  He’s seen him look serious before, and upset, and vulnerable, which he’s pretty sure isn’t a side of himself that Nagisa lets people see very often.  He’s usually so upbeat and playful around everyone, but the face he’s making now is so determined, Sousuke almost wants to give in and tell him everything.  “It’s not something you need to worry about,” he says eventually.

Nagisa punches him on his thigh.

“Ow!”

“You don’t get to decide how much people worry about you!” Nagisa says sternly, then sticks out his chin defiantly.  “I know you've been worried about _me_.”

Sousuke flexes his jaw and looks down for a moment.  “And what makes you think that?”

Nagisa raises one eyebrow.  “I know you've been asking Mako-chan if I’ve been okay latelypretty much every time he’s over here, after I got ‘sick’, and you think you’re being subtle about it but you’re not.  And I know you text my sister asking about me.”

Sousuke rolls his eyes, mentally cursing Tachibana and Nanako as traitors.  “Yeah, well I had a good reason to be worried.”

“So do I!” Nagisa says.  “You’re allowed to be worried about me, okay?  I don’t mind.  It’s kind of nice actually.  We went through a really shitty thing together, and you care about what happens to me, right?” he asks, smiling a little again.

Sousuke huffs, then nods.

“So you can’t just pretend we’re not close enough now for you to trust me with whatever’s going on with you,” he says, poking a finger into Sousuke’s chest.  “The worrying thing goes both ways.  I… I care about you too, okay?”

Sousuke opens his mouth to say something, then closes it again.  He studies Nagisa’s face, his eyes wide and honest and hopeful, and Sousuke realizes that he really, really wants to kiss him right now.  It’s not like he hasn’t had the urge before-- Nagisa is undeniably attractive, and as much as Sousuke thought he’d find his overly-energetic personality grating after a while, he’s finding that it’s actually quite the opposite.  The more Nagisa worms his way into Sousuke’s head (and his business and personal space), the more Sousuke finds that he actually wants him there.  

Sousuke doesn’t kiss him, because even though he wants to, it’s probably not exactly the right moment.  Instead, he smiles apologetically.  “It’s not that I don’t trust you,” he says, his tone softer than earlier.  “There’s just no point.  There’s nothing you can do to help me, and I don’t want your pity, so--”

“I won’t pity you,” Nagisa says quietly, then looks down and bites his lip, looking conflicted.  When he looks up at Sousuke again, it’s like he’s trying to tell him something without words, and Sousuke’s only half-sure what it is until Nagisa grabs onto his t-shirt at the chest and pulls Sousuke in toward him.  

Nagisa kisses firmly and decisively, like there isn’t a doubt in his mind that Sousuke wants this, and really, there shouldn’t be.  He’s still not sure it’s the right moment-- there are books and note papers scattered around them and they’re sitting on Rin’s bed, which is a definite roommate faux pas, and he’s vaguely aware that Nagisa’s manipulating him into spilling the beans about his shoulder-- but he’s not really bothered by any of it, and figures this is as good a moment as any, so he winds his hand around Nagisa’s back and kisses him back tentatively.  

It’s Nagisa who withdraws first, opening his eyes and giving Sousuke an almost expectant look.  He doesn’t say it out loud, but it’s so obvious that he’s thinking _just tell me_ , that Sousuke almost hears it anyway.  

Sousuke sighs, and figures he might as well.  “My shoulder’s injured,” he says without emotion.  “It’s bad.  I can’t swim anymore after this summer.  I shouldn't even be swimming now.”  

He closes his eyes for a moment once he’s said it, and smiles slightly.  It’s been so long since he said it out loud like that, just the pure fact of it, it’s almost cathartic to just lay it out so bluntly.  When he opens his eyes again, Nagisa is smiling at him, his eyes gleaming; he looks elated.  Not exactly the reaction Sousuke would have expected, but before he can question him, Nagisa’s threading his fingers through his hair and pulling him down to kiss him again.  

And it’s nice, kissing someone he really likes-- has liked for a while if he’s honest with himself-- and kissing him just for the sake of it, without the intention of going further.  He does slip his tongue between Nagisa’s lips, and Nagisa lets him, but that’s as far as he’s taking it tonight, seriously.  

“I know,” Nagisa says against his lips, and it takes Sousuke a minute to register what he’s talking about.

“You know?” he asks, pulling back just a bit and looking down at him with furrowed brows.  

Nagisa’s smiling again, his cheeks tinted pink.  “About your shoulder,” he clarifies.  “I know.”

Sousuke shakes his head in confusion.  “Wait, what--”

“My sister told me,” he says conversationally, and pulls himself off the bed by the frame of the top bunk.  He retrieves his backpack from the chair where he tossed it when he came in, and unzips it.  

Sousuke tries to remember how the hell Nanako would know about his shoulder, but of course, he told her after his third or fourth time at the bar, when she’d mentioned how he’d become a quick regular and he’d explained that it was on his way home from physical therapy.  She’d asked what for, since he looked “so strong and fit,” he remembers, and he’d explained briefly about his injury.  He’d completely forgotten.  

He realizes his mouth has been open this whole time, so he finally shuts it, just to open it again.  “You knew.  This whole time.”

“Well, only since yesterday,” Nagisa says, still sounding absurdly casual.  “Is hot or cold better for the pain?”

Sousuke blinks, still shocked.  “Uh, cold if I still need to use it, hot if I’m... going to bed… Why?”

Nagisa pulls out something from his backpack and offers it to Sousuke.  “Do you have one already?”

Sousuke takes it, and sees that it’s a small heating pad, the kind you plug into the wall.  He shakes his head, frowning.  He’d been meaning to get one, but he usually just makes due with the hot water bottle he’d borrowed from the infirmary, although it never stays hot long enough.

“Oh good!” Nagisa chirps.  “I stole it from my sister Noriko, who gets really bad cramps once a month, but a couple weeks ago she replaced all my underwear with frilly lingerie, so she can just suffer without it now.”  He also takes out a bag of ice, wrapped in a towel, and hands that to Sousuke too.  “This I just got from the kitchens on my way over here.  Shouldn’t be too melted.”

Sousuke takes the bag as well, and stares at it for a moment, then back up at Nagisa.  “I don’t get it.”

Nagisa frowns.  “Well you’re in pain, right?  That’s why you didn’t come to practice?” he asks.  “And I know I’ll see you tomorrow at my party, but I really wanted to see you today too, and then Rin-chan said you didn’t show up, so--”

“No, no,” Sousuke says, shaking his head.  “I don’t get-- Why did you go through all that?” he demands.  “Trying to get me to tell you-- to trust you-- and all that stuff about worrying about each other-- you _kissed_ me… Why all the theatrics when you already knew the whole time?”

Nagisa doesn’t seem thrown by Sousuke’s broken accusations.  “Because I wanted you to tell me,” he says matter-of-factly.  “It doesn’t mean anything if I found out by accident.”

Sousuke just stares at Nagisa for a few moments, not sure if he should be angry or not, but he’s definitely flabbergasted, and he starts to feel himself smile helplessly, because he can’t seem to go very long around Nagisa without smiling.  “So, what _does_ it mean?”

Nagisa grins brightly.  “It _means_ ,” he says, planting himself on the bed again, “that you like me.”  He takes the ice from Sousuke and holds it gingerly onto his shoulder, and Sousuke sucks in a breath through his teeth at the sudden cold on his sore muscles.  “And it means that you trust me.”

Sousuke places his hand on top of Nagisa’s and adjusts the positioning of the ice pack an inch or so, right to where he needs it, then shakes his head.  “You can’t trick someone into trusting you, that completely defeats the purpose.”

“You already trusted me, I only tricked you into realizing it,” Nagisa says, sounding proud of himself.

Sousuke rolls his eyes.  “Whatever, that’s so manipulative.”

Nagisa just smiles like he’s been complimented, and sits up on his knees facing Sousuke.  “Does that change how you feel about me?” he asks, his mouth forming a pout Sousuke’s sure isn’t genuine.

His eyes are drawn right to Nagisa’s lips, still pink and full, and he feels his ears get hot by the time he remembers to look up at his eyes instead.  “How do I feel about you?”

Nagisa shrugs and smirks.  “You kissed me back.”

“I did,” Sousuke agrees.  And of course he doesn’t have to tell him that it doesn’t change the way he feels.  He knows that Nagisa can be a sneaky little brat, along with loud, obnoxious, irritating, and way too blunt, but none of that has stopped Sousuke from thinking about him constantly since they met, and it’s not enough to stop Sousuke from leaning the extra few inches closer until their lips meet again.  He can feel Nagisa smiling against him before he kisses back, and he feels a rush of affection in his chest.  Rin had warned him (what feels like ages ago) that Nagisa’s the type to get attached, and Sousuke knows that _he’s_ not-- at least not to anyone besides Rin-- but that knowledge doesn’t spook him like it normally would.  

Still holding the ice pack on Sousuke’s shoulder, Nagisa swings one leg over him, climbing into his lap with ease, dipping his head low enough not to hit it on the top bunk.  He bites a little at Sousuke’s bottom lip, and Sousuke wraps his hands around Nagisa’s small waist, letting his fingertips push up the hem of his jacket, surprised to feel bare skin there, before remembering that he had changed for swimming before coming here.

“I really like you,” Nagisa breathes against his lips.

Sousuke doesn’t say it back, because it’s obvious, and Nagisa already pointed it out.  He does, however, need to clarify one thing.  

“What about Rei?” he asks after breaking the kiss.

Nagisa leans back a few inches, his arms still on Sousuke’s shoulders, knees still on either side of Sousuke’s thighs.  “What do you mean?”

“What happened there?” he asks.  It’s a broad question, safer than “Are you with him?” but it still gets the message across.  He knows it’s not the most opportune moment to bring it up, but he’d really prefer not to step on another guy’s shoes.

“Um… I asked him out, he said no,” Nagisa says.  He smiles sadly.  “And it’s been kind of weird since then.  But, we’re not together or anything, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“That's it?” Sousuke asks, and Nagisa just sort of stares at him.  “Sorry, it just really seemed like--”

Nagisa laughs.  “It’s okay, everyone thought we were a couple… even me.”

“Sorry,” Sousuke says again.  He reaches up and brushes the hair out of Nagisa’s eyes.  “So that night I caught you outside the pool…?”

Nagisa’s eyes shut and his cheeks turn red.  “God, that was like a week after it happened.  It’s so embarrassing, but I just, missed him, you know?  He’s my best friend!  And I missed watching him swim, but after I confessed I felt like he was even more self-conscious than usual, like I wasn’t allowed to look at him, so…”  He trails off and sags a little, resting his forehead against Sousuke’s chest.  “It sounds so creepy, but, I just wanted to watch him swim again.”

Sousuke lets his chin sit lightly on top of Nagisa’s head.  “That’s not… Okay, it’s pretty creepy--”

Nagisa groans.  

“ _But_ ,” Sousuke laughs, “I get it.”

Nagisa lifts his head slowly and looks hopefully at Sousuke.  “You do?”

“Yeah.”

“Because you moved back here hoping to be with Rin-chan but then you saw that he and Mako-chan were together and you have to just settle for being his friend and teammate even though you have feelings for him too?” he asks with an air of commiseration.  

“What?” Sousuke asks, horrified.  “No, that’s not-- Why would you think that?”

Nagisa shrugs unapologetically.  “Is it not true?”

Sousuke frowns.  “Well, no, I mean.  Not exactly.”  Almost exactly, but Sousuke won’t admit that.  “It’s not like I’m sitting here pining for Rin or anything, I mean, sure, there was a time, when maybe I thought about it, but it’s fine, I’m fine, he’s happy, it’s fine.”  He has to roll his eyes at himself this time because, yeah, that was convincing, maybe he should have added the word "fine" in there a few more times.

“Sou-chan,” Nagisa says like he’s talking to sad puppy.  

Sousuke winces.  “This is a weird conversation to have with someone I was trying to make out with.”

Nagisa breaks out into a fit of giggles so strong that he drops the ice pack and has to bury his face in the crook of Sousuke’s neck to quiet himself.  When he finally recovers, he wipes tears from his eyes.  “You’re right, I’m sorry, it got weird.”

He stands up, leaving Sousuke’s lap feeling rather cold, and retrieves his backpack, slinging it over one shoulder.  “So, I’m getting over my best friend, and you’re getting over your best friend,” he says, fluffing his hair up with his fingers.  He starts heading toward the door, and Sousuke gets up and follows him.  “But I like you,” Nagisa adds, smiling up at Sousuke.  “And you like me.”

Sousuke nods, and Nagisa pulls on his shirt until he leans down and kisses him.  It’s softer than before, and Sousuke’s pretty sure it was meant to be a quick goodbye kiss, but it’s too new a feeling to let go of very quickly, so Nagisa ends up on his tiptoes with one arm draped up around Sousuke’s neck, their chests pressed together as much as they can be with their height difference, and Sousuke has to concentrate very hard on not letting his hands wander lower than Nagisa’s hips or picking him up and pressing him against the door with his legs wrapped around Sousuke’s waist.

“So what now?” Sousuke asks when they finally separate, because Nagisa seems to have all the answers.

“Now, I go back to practice before Mako-chan comes and drags my ass out of here,” he laughs.  “And I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Sousuke nods.  “I’ll be there,” he says, and leans down to give him an actual goodbye kiss.

It takes Nagisa three tries before he actually makes it out the door, and by the time he does, his tongue is very familiar with the inside of Sousuke’s mouth, and Sousuke’s neck is beginning to get sore from bending down at an awkward angle for too long.  Maybe next time he will just pick Nagisa up after all.  Or they could just stay on the bed.  

Sousuke shakes his head and starts picking up the papers and books on Rin’s bed and moving them into a neat pile on the desk.  He’s already making plans in his head for the next time he and Nagisa are alone, when he still doesn’t know where they stand, which is just ridiculous in so many ways, not the least of which being that he’s never cared where he stood with any of the guys he’s hooked up with before.  But he knows Nagisa is different, he’s known that since he met him, so maybe he shouldn’t be so wrapped up in his own head about the whole thing.

His phone buzzes from inside his pocket, and Sousuke takes it out, figuring it’s either Rin or Gou yelling at him for missing practice, but it’s from Nagisa, who couldn’t have even made it as far as the pool yet.

_next time bring me a crate to stand on, my feet hurt from standing on my toes!_

Sousuke laughs and texts back, _I’ll plan on it._

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

Sousuke hates being late.

He’s never late if he can help it, and his nearly perfect internal clock assures that this is the case most of the time, but today, due to extreme circumstances and a certain incompetent redheaded first-year, he is running exactly 26 minutes late.

“Senpai, I said I was sorry!” Momo whines, jogging to keep up with Sousuke’s quick pace.  

Sousuke grits his teeth and walks even faster.  “I told you to stay back,” he says murderously, not turning around.  “If you get anywhere near me and I catch that shit, I will end you, I’m not kidding.”

“You can’t pass it from person to person!” he says.  “I looked it up, you can only have a reaction after contact with the actual plant!”

Sousuke stops and faces Momo, who stops short and almost face-plants right into him.  “Oh you looked it up?” Sousuke says flatly.  “Next time, why don’t you look up what poison ivy looks like before you go traipsing off into the woods chasing butterflies like a crazy person, huh?  Because _that_ information might have been slightly more useful.”

“I was trying to catch a present for Nagisa-san!” Momo insists, scratching at the reddened skin on his neck.  Sousuke could swear the rash didn’t go that high up when they left Samezuka.  He takes a step backward.

“Stop scratching!” Sousuke barks.  “Rub the cream on there instead, and let’s go, we’re almost there.”  He turns around again and continues down the road without checking to see if Momo’s behind him.  

“Do you think we missed the surprise?” Momo asks, sounding pathetic.

Sousuke sighs.  “Yes, I think we missed the fucking surprise.”

He’d had everything planned out.  Finish with afternoon classes, practice at 4 o’clock, shower, change, take the train to Iwatobi High to pick up Nagisa’s gift, meet up with Rin at Tachibana’s place, go to Nagisa’s party together.  Unfortunately, Momo had assaulted him in the showers, asking if he could tag along to the party with him.  Sousuke refused, but Rin and Nitori convinced him to be nice, so he ended up waiting in the dormitory hallway for a ridiculous amount of time while Momo picked out what shirt would most impress Gou.  Sousuke had been about thirty seconds away from leaving without him, when the door flung open and there was Momo, wide-eyed and shirtless, with an angry red rash all over his stomach and chest.

“I fell out of a tree this morning trying to catch a yellow tiger swallowtail and landed in a bush-- it must have been poison ivy!” he’d wailed, but he refused to miss the party, even though he barely knew Nagisa.  So they’d ended up at the school infirmary, only to be sent to the pharmacy (which was of course located several blocks in the opposite direction of the train station) to obtain the proper rash cream and antihistamine to stop the itchy welts from spreading.  The detour caused them to miss the train and have to wait for the next one, while Sousuke had to listen to Momo’s lamenting about how the butterfly would have been such a perfect gift for Nagisa-san, if it hadn’t been for the squirrel that scared him into falling out of the tree.  

Sousuke had made him sit several seats away from him on the train while he texted Nagisa to apologize.   _I’ll be late, sorry, Momo tried to get you a pet butterfly and ruined my day._

Nagisa replied immediately, as always.

_whoa really?_

_did he get it??_  

_i really want a pet butterfly!!_

_is it pretty?_

_what color is it?_

Sousuke put his phone away and spent the rest of the train ride with his face in his hands.

It’s not until they’re approaching Tachibana’s house that Sousuke remembers that Rin won’t actually be there anymore.  They’ll have already headed over to Nanase’s house for the party (another detail Sousuke’s pissed off about today.  He’d just assumed the party would be at Nagisa’s or somewhere equally neutral, but Rin had informed him earlier this morning that they were hosting it at Nanase’s, because they host all their parties at Nanase’s, since his parents are basically never home.  So now not only does he have to play nice with that dead-eyed jerk since he’ll be a guest in his home, but he has to walk in without Rin, late, and with a rashy 15-year-old in tow.) and he’s not exactly sure where Nanase’s house is.  He knows how to get to Tachibana’s though, so he just heads in that direction, thinking if he can’t figure it out, he’ll knock on the door and ask Tachibana’s parents for directions.  

He’s saved the extra embarrassment though, when he spots several brightly colored balloons blowing in the breeze, tied onto a fence post up the hill a bit, and he motions Momo to follow him.

Rin answers when they ring the bell, raising an eyebrow when he sees Sousuke’s perturbed expression.  “‘Bout time, loverboy,” he says, punching Sousuke lightly on the side.  “What took you?”

“Don’t ask,” Sousuke grumbles.  They all walk into the festively decorated living room together, Momo bouncing up and down behind them to the beat of the pop music coming from the stereo, presumably in anticipation of seeing Gou, who smiles brightly when she spots Sousuke.  

“You’re here!” she says, ignoring Momo’s panting and frantic waving.

“Hey little sis,” he says, and wraps her up in a hug before Momo can get near her.  He looks over to Rin, who’s about to put Momo in a headlock and lead him away, and says, “Don’t touch him, he’s contagious and… oozing.”

Rin stops immediately and puts his palms up, a disgusted look on his face, while Momo whines again about how poison ivy isn’t contagious, and Sousuke leads Gou to the corner of the living room with his arm around her shoulder.  “So where’s the birthday boy?” he asks, scanning the room.  Tachibana waves at him when he sees him, and Nanase gives his signature blank-stare that Sousuke’s come to expect.  There are a few girls in attendance as well, Sousuke thinks he recognizes at least one of them as Gou’s friend, eating some of the decorative snacks that have been laid out, and chatting with each other and with Nitori, who looks a little overwhelmed.

“Oh, he’s around here somewhere,” she says, rolling her eyes.  “You should have been here twenty minutes ago to witness his amazing acting skills when we all yelled ‘surprise.’”

Sousuke laughs at her sarcasm.  “That bad, huh?”

“I don’t know why we all thought we could surprise him,” she says with a sigh.  “He’s the sneakiest little brat on the planet, of course he figured it out.”

“Well at least he humored you guys,” Sousuke says.  “I’m surprised he even bothered; he’s known about it for weeks.”

Gou turns slightly to face Sousuke, a suspicious smirk on her face.  “And how exactly do _you_ know that?”

The smile drops from Sousuke’s face.  “Uh,” he says eloquently.  “He may have mentioned it when he invited me.”

“ _He_ invited you?” Gou says with raised eyebrows.  “I thought my brother did.”

“Well, Rin did, but only after Nagisa already had,” Sousuke explains, scratching at the back of his neck.  

“ _Really,_ ” she says pointedly, pursing her lips.

Sousuke rolls his eyes.  “Shut up, we’re friends.”

Gou says nothing this time, just nods innocently.

“I have friends,” he says defensively.  “Besides Rin.  Oh whatever, shut up.”

She laughs and eventually he smiles, and attempts to change the subject, hopefully not too obviously.  “So what have you been up to, besides babysitting your adorable little underdog team?  Breaking hearts as usual?”

She elbows him painfully in the ribs (she’s pointier than Rin), and tells him about her club activities, and her friends, and the teacher she absolutely loathes, and the fight she had with her mother recently.  Sousuke’s incredibly glad she’s here and willing to ignore her other friends in favor of catching up with him, because he’s completely out of his element here.  He doesn’t want to cling to Rin, since Tachibana’s already taken up that post, and the only other people here he actually knows are Momo and Nitori, who now seem to be bickering with each other about something across the room.  Sousuke would never admit it out loud, but he really isn’t all that comfortable around large groups of strangers (at least at a bar there’s alcohol to loosen him up), and despite his earlier arguments, making friends is not his strong suit.

Before long, Gou’s friend Chigusa comes over and joins their conversation and Sousuke looks around the small room again for Nagisa.  He asks the girls to excuse him while he goes and puts Nagisa’s present down (which he actually does want to do at this point; his hands are starting to get sweaty holding the plastic wrapping) and starts toward what he assumes is the kitchen.  

He finds Nagisa there, but Nagisa doesn’t see him.  He’s too busy looking incredibly pissed off with Rei.

“--sorry if I don’t know what’s appropriate and what isn’t anymore in your mind, Nagisa-kun,” Rei is saying in a somewhat hushed voice.  “I thought you were done being angry at me by now!”

“Well I guess I’m not!” Nagisa says, his face screwed up like he doesn’t know whether to yell or cry.  “You can’t just-- oh.”  He stops abruptly and makes eye contact with Sousuke.  “Hey Sou-chan.”

Rei turns, looking surprised.  “Yamazaki-san,” he says with a quick nod to greet him.

Sousuke looks Rei up and down while wearing his best subtle-yet-intimidating glare.  He has no idea what happened, or whether or not Rei was at fault, but he knows he never wants to see Nagisa looking so miserable again, especially not on his birthday. “Everything okay?” he asks, turning to look at Nagisa.

“It’s fine, it’s nothing,” Nagisa says, a smile plastered on his face now, but Sousuke can see the bitterness through it.  “When did you get here?”

Sousuke glances back to Rei.  “Nanase was looking for you.”

“Oh?” Rei says, looking a bit thrown off.  “What did he--”

“Seemed really important,” Sousuke says, staring at him expectantly.

Rei nods, still confused, but he straightens his glasses and excuses himself.

“Sou-chan, oh my god,” Nagisa says as soon as Rei’s gone, smiling genuinely now.  “You’re so scary when you talk to people who aren’t me!”

“I am scary,” Sousuke says, taking two steps forward, closer to Nagisa.  “Terrifying, really.”

Nagisa laughs and stands up on his toes and pecks Sousuke lightly on the lips.  “The scariest,” he says, pulling him down for a real kiss this time.  His lips are soft and pliant and smell faintly of artificial strawberry, and Sousuke would bet money that he wears flavored lip balm.  Surprisingly, he’s not put off by this discovery; like so many things about Nagisa, Sousuke finds it inexplicably endearing instead of annoying or gross.  

“Your party’s in there,” Sousuke reminds him after he’d tried to pull him in closer by the short hairs on the back of his neck, sucking lightly on his bottom lip.

Nagisa pouts.  “Yeah, it’s _my_ party, for _my_ birthday, and I can make out with you in Haru-chan’s kitchen if I want to.”

Sousuke shakes his head at him.  “What happened just now with Rei?”

“Ugh,” Nagisa groans and rolls his eyes.  “Nothing, I don’t want to talk about it.”

Sousuke nods and starts to say that that’s okay, but Nagisa interrupts him before he can even get a word out.  “He’s just so clueless!” Nagisa says.  “And insensitive!  And mean, and terrible, and I hate him.”

“Hmm,” Sousuke says.  “I don’t think you mean that.”

Nagisa looks at him, affronted for a moment, then deflates a little.  “No, I don’t,” he says reluctantly.

“So what did he do?” Sousuke asks.  He mentally berates himself just a little, because it’s not as if he’d actually rather spend this party hearing about Rei than kissing Nagisa, but he can tell that Nagisa’s still upset no matter how much he’s trying to forget about it, and Sousuke just wants him to get it off his chest.

“He gave me my birthday present,” Nagisa says, and holds up his wrist.  Sousuke’s noticed him wearing the silver charm bracelet a few times before tonight, but he doesn’t see anything else that Nagisa could be referring to.  “Last year, he got me the penguin, see?” he says, pointing to one of the tiny charms.  “And just now he gave me the butterfly, and I got pissed, because, that’s just… That’s not a friend present!  That’s definitely a _boyfriend_ present, and I can forgive him for always being so considerate and just knowing exactly the perfect thing to get me _before_ he knew I liked him, but now it’s not fair!  And it makes me have feelings, and I know he doesn’t have those feelings, because he _told_ me he doesn’t, so now what am I supposed to think when he gets me such a sweet and perfect boyfriend-present?  It makes me so mad!”

Sousuke’s eyes are wide and he’s sure his mouth is open a bit, because he doesn’t really have an answer for this one.  “Uh.  So you’re mad because… he got you a nice birthday present.”

Nagisa looks at him helplessly, then looks down to the gift still in Sousuke’s hand.  “Oh, hey, is that for me?”

Sousuke nods and hands it to him.  It’s in clear plastic wrapping with a shiny gold bow tied around the top, so it’s not like the contents are a surprise, but Nagisa lights up when he looks at it anyway.

“Iwatobi cream bread?  Aw, Sou-chan!” he says, throwing his arms around Sousuke’s neck, squeezing him tightly.  “That’s my absolute favorite thing in the world!  How did you know?”

He had grilled Rin thoroughly, who, to get him to shut up, had asked Tachibana, who’d named about seven different sickly-sweet-sounding pastries he claimed were Nagisa’s favorite, before remembering his actual favorite with confidence.  He won’t admit that though, so he just shrugs.

“I’ll go put it with the other gifts,” he says, taking Sousuke’s hand and leading him into the living room.  “Come on.”

He steers them to a table on one side of the room that’s piled high with-- Iwatobi cream bread.  There have to be at least sixteen of them, some in clear wrapping like Sousuke’s, some wrapped up in brightly colored paper, but the shape gives them away.  He lets out a huff of supreme disappointment as Nagisa tosses his on top of the pile, then he bends down to get a closer look at a tag on one of them.  It’s just signed “Rin,” and the one next to it tied with a green bow has a card attached that says “Happy Birthday!!  From Makoto” along with a tiny drawing of a cat’s face.

“Assholes,” he says, looking up and shaking his head at Rin and Tachibana, who at least have the decency to look sheepish about it.

“We couldn’t think of anything else!” Rin hisses, and Tachibana shrugs apologetically.

The four of them chat for a while and eventually sit down to eat (Nanase’s made enough snacks to pretty much count as dinner, and as much as Sousuke hates to admit it, everything is delicious).  The music switches to something a little more low-key and less headache-inducing, and Sousuke starts to relax a little.  Nitori and Gou sit down to join them and are brainstorming possible party games they could play, when suddenly Nagisa sits up straight as an arrow, his eyes wide and very alert.

“ _Devils_ ,” he whispers to no one in particular.  Sousuke only has a moment to cock his head in confusion before the doorbell rings and, without even a pause for propriety’s sake, the door opens and the house is suddenly filled with high-pitched female voices, laughing and chattering until they enter the room, all immediately locking eyes onto Nagisa.

Nagisa shrinks down next to Sousuke, gripping tightly onto the hem of his shirt on one side.  “Oh no,” he groans.

Sousuke looks at the three girls (young women really; he’d place them all in their early twenties).  They look fairly unassuming, all dark-haired and smiling, with a family resemblance so strong he almost doesn’t realize that the one standing on the left is-- “Nanako?”

She turns to Sousuke when he says her name, and he stands up to greet her, despite Nagisa’s death-grip on his shirt.  

“Yamazaki-kun!” Nanako says, stepping away from the other two to give Sousuke a tight hug.  He’s never been much of a hug-greeting type of guy with anyone besides Gou (who he basically considers family), but he goes with it anyway, trying not to be too awkward about it.  “I was hoping you’d be here!”  She turns to the other two, who are studying Sousuke with interest.  “This is Yamazaki-kun,” she says to them with a less-than-subtle suggestive tone.  “Nagi-chan’s friend, the one I was telling you about.”  She turns back to Sousuke.  “These are my sisters, since our baby brother is too rude to introduce us--”

“What are you evil witches doing here?” Nagisa demands in an uncharacteristically flat voice, startling Sousuke, who didn’t see him appear at his side.  “No one invited you.”

“Actually,” one of the sisters says, putting her arm around Nagisa and ruffling his hair, “Rei-kun invited Nanako, and she invited us.”

Nagisa wrestles out of her hold and whips his head around to glare at Rei, who looks horrified at his blunder.  “I didn’t--” Rei sputters.  “You said-- I thought you were getting along now!”

“Yamazaki-kun?”  Nagisa’s sister with the shortest hair smiles widely at Sousuke.  “I’m Noriko, and this is Natsuki,” she says, pointing at the sister with the longest hair, who’s probably the prettiest out of the three.  “Nanako’s told us so much about you, I feel like we’re friends already!  She didn’t mention just how handsome you were though!”

“Yes she did,” Natsuki says, smiling at Sousuke as well.  

He’s not really sure how to respond to that, but before he can say anything, Nagisa’s pushing his way in between Sousuke and his sisters.  “Back, you vultures!” he says, shooing them away.  “Look, you can stay for a little while, but you have to behave-- no embarrassing me, no pranks, no singing or dancing, and no shameless flirting with Sou-chan!”

Sousuke sees Natsuki raise her eyebrow as though challenged, then flick her eyes over toward Rei.  Nagisa catches it as well, because he follows her line of sight, then snaps his fingers in front of her face.  “Or Rei-chan!” he says angrily.  “Go… talk to Ai-chan and the rashy one, they’re straight.”

Nitori raises his head up from his plate of cookies, looking like a deer in headlights.  “Huh?”

Noriko kisses Nagisa on the top of his head, then plops herself down next to Gou and her friends.  “Who wants to see baby pictures of Nagi-chan?" she asks gleefully.  “I brought photo albums!”

Nanako puts her arm around Nagisa, who’s burying his face in his hands.  “I brought champagne,” she says soothingly to him, holding up a bottle.

“I’m drinking all of it,” Nagisa says, pouting.

Sousuke’s not sure if he should follow them into the kitchen as Nagisa continues to complain to Nanako (“I will literally never forgive you” “You’re gonna owe me a hell of a lot more than one bottle of-- oh this is actually a really nice bottle” “Just wait until _your_ next birthday, I’m going to invite Mom and Dad to your party”) or if it would be a complete betrayal if he joined everyone looking at potentially embarrassing photos along with the clearly more hated Hazuki sisters.  Before he can decide though, he feels a hard tap on his shoulder, and looks behind him to see Rei giving him a serious look.

“Yamazaki-san,” he says in a deeper voice than Sousuke’s heard him use before.  “May I speak to you?”

Sousuke studies him for a moment before nodding, then lets Rei lead him into the hallway where it’s a bit quieter.  He shoves his hands in his pockets and frowns, waiting for Rei to speak.

“It occurs to me that we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot,” he says, after clearing his throat.

Sousuke raises his eyebrows.  “What makes you think that?” he asks, his tone flat, almost bored.

Rei squares his shoulders and looks him straight in the eyes.  “You dislike me.”

“I don’t know you,” Sousuke counters.

“Regardless, you’ve been fairly obvious about your feelings of… disdain toward me, and perhaps I’ve been equally short with you.  However, if that’s the case, it has been unintentional, as your recent… friendship with Nagisa-kun took me a bit by surprise.”

Sousuke blinks a few times, trying to figure out where he’s going with this.  “Okay…”

“I realize that it’s awkward,” Rei continues, “considering that things have been somewhat tense between Nagisa-kun and me recently, but I’m doing my best to smooth things over in that department, and I was hoping that, in the meantime, you and I could start over.”

Until now, Sousuke didn’t really understand Nagisa’s attraction to Rei; he’s good-looking, sure, but he's always struck Sousuke as kind of a pompous ass.  But as he looks at Sousuke with sincerity in his eyes and his jaw set in determination, asking a large and intimidating guy who’s been nothing short of hostile to him every time they’ve spoken to wipe the slate clean and be friends-- Sousuke thinks he might actually get it, why Nagisa’s so taken with him.

When Sousuke doesn’t answer, Rei’s expression softens slightly.  “He told me what happened, you know.  When his drink got spiked and you took care of him all night?”

Sousuke looks at his feet, then back at Rei.  “Yeah, well, someone had to.”

“And I’m glad it was you,” Rei answers without skipping a beat.  “He speaks very highly of you.  As does Rin-san, and I suppose what I’m trying to say is, even though we don’t know each other very well, I respect you, Yamazaki-san, and, especially considering your... affection, for Nagisa-kun, I hope things can be a bit more amicable between us in the future.”

He nods once, more to himself than Sousuke, as if to confirm that he’s said everything he wants to say, and turns around to go back into the party.

“You shouldn’t try so hard,” Sousuke says before he walks away.

He turns back around and cocks his head slightly.

“At smoothing things over with him,” Sousuke says.  “He’s not mad at you, he’s trying to get over you, and he doesn’t know how to act around you anymore.  It's frustrating.”

Rei sputters for a moment before forming any actual words.  “But, _I_ don’t know how to act!  He gets angry no matter what I--”

“Just give him some space,” Sousuke says, shrugging.  “And don’t get him such nice birthday presents, I guess.”

Rei stares at him for a moment, then cracks a small smile.  “I suppose you’re right.”

“And you really fucked up, inviting his sisters,” Sousuke adds with a smug grin.

“I-- I didn’t realize Nanako-san would bring the others!” he cries, shaking his head and hiding his face in his hands.  “I only invited her, and he said they’d been getting along better these days, I thought--”

“You fucked up,” Sousuke says again, trying not to laugh.  He starts to head back toward the living room and passes by Rei, nudging him a bit with his elbow, motioning for him to follow.

Nagisa’s bad mood is short-lived, and he’s back to his bubbly, smiling self once he gets about half a bottle of champagne in him, along with an exorbitant amount of Nanase’s homemade strawberry shortcake.  He even smiles sweetly at Natsuki as she tells everyone about the time when he was seven and she had created an elaborate and incredibly convincing story about how he was adopted as a baby by their parents who finally wanted a male child, and were disappointed when he’d started to show such girlish attributes.  It’s only when she sidles up close next to Sousuke and points out how long and curly Nagisa’s eyelashes are while batting her own suggestively and placing her hand on his thigh, that he loses his cool and they start slap-fighting until Sousuke and Tachibana break it up and hold them apart.  

Nanako takes her sisters home after that, and the party winds down to just the four Iwatobi boys, and Rin and Sousuke.  Nagisa seems to have forgiven Rei for his unreasonably thoughtful gift, and ropes him into singing along when “their song” comes on the stereo, and his happiness is so contagious that Rei goes along with it, blasting the volume to try and camouflage their terrible voices.

Rin’s laughing when he sits down next to Sousuke, nudging him with his knee.  “So what’s the deal with you two?” he asks, leaning in close so that Sousuke can hear him over the music.  “Anything official yet?”

Sousuke smiles, not taking his eyes off Nagisa, who’s attempting (and failing) to do some complicated dance move he says he saw his favorite pop star do in her latest video.  “No, nothing official.”

“But you like him.”

He watches as Nagisa loses his balance and falls over onto Rei, and they both land on Tachibana, who screams, and they try to sort out their tangled limbs, Nagisa laughing hysterically the whole time.  “Yeah.”

“Well good for you man,” Rin says, clinking his cup of punch (with some of the champagne Nagisa had finally decided to share mixed in) against Sousuke’s.  “It’s ironic, coming from the guy who got on me so hard for months about how much my boyfriend was distracting me from my goals, but I’m happy for you.”  He takes a sip of his drink and side-eyes Sousuke.  “Even if you seem like you’re the one losing focus lately,” he adds, a little quieter than he’d been.

Sousuke doesn’t respond, just takes a sip of his drink as well.

“Missing practice…  That’s not like you,” Rin says, the smile gone from his face now.

Sousuke doesn’t turn his head to see, but he can tell Rin’s looking at him with concern.  He doesn’t answer the unasked question, doesn’t acknowledge Rin’s worries, and instead just says, “Yeah,” again before he pushes himself off the floor and goes over to offer Nagisa a hand, helping him up off the floor.  Nagisa’s still giggling when Sousuke leads him away from the others and into the hallway, where he picks him up as soon as they’re out of sight.  A half-surprised, half-pleased sound escapes Nagisa before he wraps his legs around Sousuke’s waist and kisses him.  He doesn’t hold back (Sousuke’s beginning to think he never does) and licks into Sousuke’s mouth as Sousuke pushes his back against the wall, holding onto the backs of his thighs.  He doesn’t taste like strawberry lip balm anymore, or anything really, besides skin and heat, and Sousuke doesn’t care that they’re in Nanase’s house, or that Nagisa’s still half in love with someone else, or that he swore that if he couldn’t be with Rin then he wouldn’t bother dating anyone until he was finally done with swimming.  He just wants to chase this feeling and see where it takes him.

 


End file.
